I Dare You
by QuadrupleThreat
Summary: James was a popstar. Popstars did stupid things. James could handle most of the stupid things he did, but daring a crazy girl he just met three hours ago on the beach at his best friend's wedding to NOT fall in love with him wasn't one of them. J/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, everybody! Because you clicked on this story, you win a BRAND NEW CAR!**

**Just kidding, no you don't. But you get to read this random story that I had a dream about, and ponder over whether you think it is worth it to keep going. Now there's a reward. ;) So this story...yeah, it came from a dream. It's very hate-love-esque, which seems to be my favorite as well as dominant romance writing style. I love tension. And believe me, there's going to be a lot of it.**

**So even though this beginning is SO SO SO long (the two main characters don't even meet, that's how ridiculous I am), it sets the story and hopefully paints a picture in your head before anything happens. This was supposed to be a oneshot when I started writing, but things kind of changed as I kept going. I don't know if the idea is appealing at all, but if it is then please please please review and let me know what you think. Should I stop? Should I keep going? Should I cry myself to sleep tonight because no one reviewed my story? I don't know, you tell me.**

**No but seriously, I will cry tonight if you don't review. I'll be crying on the inside. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush, even though I wish I did. I do own all of my original characters, though.**

**Oh! By the way. The point of view is in third person, but switches scenes between the two main characters. If that makes sense. Enjoy! :)**

* * *

><p>"So, what you're saying is that the entire files system shutdown? For no apparent reason? That some sort of error just happened to occur the moment I closed the doors of the building last night and now, of course, everything is lost and destroyed and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it at all? Perfect."<p>

Valerie sighed heavily and laid her head back down on her pillow with her phone pressed against her ear. She glanced over at the clock, which read 5:47. Today sucked for her already, and it wasn't even six in the freaking morning.

She had just started her new law school summer internship at the East Liberty Law Firm a few of weeks ago, at the beginning of June. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, really it was. She had been chosen to work under one of the most prestigious attorneys in New York, Ms. Addison Porter, and she loved it. Sure, it was the kind of internship that you had to literally be married to, but it was worth it, in Valerie's eyes. She had always been an extremely driven, career oriented kind of person, so it wasn't that big of a deal to her. And Addison was certainly…a handful, but Valerie dealt with impossible people all the time. In fact, her entire family defined the limits of impossible, so actually, this job was a piece of cake for her.

Except, you know, today. Today sucked.

"Val, I seriously don't know what to do…" her panicky co-intern Helena was on the line, who kept blubbering like an idiot, as if the world had just ended. Valerie squeezed her eyes shut and listened to the problems that were occurring.

"The entire network is down, it's all just _down_, and the backup system won't scan any of the documents that I test run, and all the hard copies can't be faxed because of privacy rights and Ms. Stevens is going to be here in an hour to pick up her forms which have to be finalized _to-day _if the court will validate her statement before her ex husband's house is sold and there is _no one_ else here but Gregory and we both know he won't do anything and Addison is…oh shut up, Greg. We both know you don't do anything…anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Addison is flying down from her conference in less than three hours and she's going to kill me…well, you, since this whole thing kind of seems like your fault anyway…I'm not saying it is, but-"

"Okay, Helena. Listen to me. Calm down, okay?" Valerie spoke in a firm voice. She sat herself up in her bed and listened to Helena's hyperventilating, and waited until it eventually subsided to a regular paced breath with just a little wimpering. She sure was a drama queen, that Helena. Valerie spoke again once her cries had eventually died out, obviously realizing they weren't affective.

"Now listen to me. Go get yourself a drink of water or something, alright? Just sit down and catch your breath. Don't reboot the system; I'll be over in half an hour, forty five minutes tops. I'll figure it out, okay?"

"But, but… what about your flight?"

Valerie sighed one more time and flopped back down on the bed, eyes closing.

"I'll be fine, I'll figure it out or something. No worries. See you soon."

She hung up the phone but didn't move from her position, dreading the day's events. This weekend was her best friend Bridget's wedding in North Carolina. Bridget lived all the way out in LA, and Valerie didn't see her as much as she liked to. In fact, she never saw any of her best friends anymore. Bridget had gone to UCLA to study filmmaking and television, and called Valerie the minute she had met some guy named Kendall who she accidently spilled coffee on during one of her observing assignments. Apparently they hit it off well, and two years of solid dating proved successful for them. Valerie was kind of eager to meet this guy since Bridget literally hasn't stopped talking about him and his friends for the last two years, as well as dropped many hints about these friends in order to convince Valerie to come visit once in a while.

Sophia had moved to Seattle right after graduation to study art history and literature at Seattle University, and was doing well. Her life revolved around her classes, mostly, but she had found time to meet this quirky, insane, art crazed guy named Aiden, who "stole her heart."

Even Abigail, who had stayed in their original hometown back in Colorado, had studied to become a teacher and was a proud half of a very successful year and a half long relationship that was still going strong with some guy named Gavin. Valerie hadn't seen Abby or Bridget since last summer since they reunited in their hometown, and even Sophia's temporary work related trip that brought her to New York around Christmastime was way too short of a reunion for the both of them. Valerie definitely missed her girls, there was no doubt. She certainly did look forward to seeing them, and that wasn't what she was dreading.

No, what she was dreading more than anything was their boyfriend stories.

Valerie was happy for them, she was. They were all in highly successful relationships, filled with love and adoration and charm and romance and…they're happy. And she was happy that they're happy. But all their lives, even throughout high school, they had always been the ones who loved without holding back and gave it their all, and ended up being broken in the end, before moving on to the next guy. They loved completely, throwing themselves into relationships with nothing to hide, even Abby, who was the shyest out of all of them. And Valerie had always been a little different. She didn't take relationships seriously enough to give them more than a dime's worth of importance. To her, love was just a concept, not an actual feeling. She never felt it, and she never expected to. She was too focused on her classes and schoolwork and career to honestly give "love" the time of day. Her friends disapproved of her casual one night stands in college that she mentioned to them about, but she didn't see anything wrong with them. She wasn't a slut or anything, she just wasn't committed. She wasn't in love, and she didn't see the point of it, either.

But she really did hate hearing about the mushy romantic picnics and month-aversaries and walks on the candlelit beach. Yep, definitely could live without that.

Oh, well. Here goes.

* * *

><p>"I actually asked for sparkling citrus water, not berry." James Diamond bluntly told the television assistant standing next to him.<p>

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Diamond, but…but this is all they had. I'll look again, but I've already looked twice, I know how you prefer citrus over berry and…" the poor woman trailed off, clasping the drink tightly in her hand.

James sat down in his director's chair in front of the mirror and sighed. Looking at her from the mirror's reflection, he flashed the assistant his trademark charming smile.

"Is there any way you could go somewhere else and find a bottle for me? Please?" he said easily.

She immediately melted under his gaze and let out a giggle.

"Of course, Mr. Diamond. The next store that sells these is all the way down near 32nd, but I would be honored to go get it for you. Just give me fifteen minutes; I'll be back in a jiffy!"

"Thank you." He flashed another quick smile and turned back to look at his reflection, satisfied. Lightly brushing his bangs, he watched the woman run out of the dressing room and saw another TV assistant poke her head in from the corner.

"Mr. Diamond? You're on in two. Shall I tell them to hold the segment until after you've had your citrus water?"

He began to agree, but then remembered the time limit he was under. His flight left soon, and he needed to get this quick interview done. Sighing, he shook his head.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm coming."

He got up and walked over to the wings, waiting to be called on to the stage. Diana, the reporter, was talking fervently about some home crime investigation before moving on to his segment.

"And now! Moving on to lighter and happier news, we have some big time celebrations coming up this weekend! More specifically, a wedding for one of our teen heartthrobs from one of today's hottest bands…" the woman spoke with fake enthusiasm for the cameras. "Unfortunately, he and his lucky girl couldn't make it, as they are preparing for this weekend at an unknown location. But, have no fear! For we have the band's biggest heartthrob here today, as well as the groom's best friend and best man to give you the details! Everybody, give it up for your favorite Hollywood hottie, James Diamond from Big Time Rush!"

The cameras immediately swerved to capture James' walk toward the couches where Diana was standing, and he flashed his trademark smile once more to the screaming crowd and cameras. Clad in his white v-neck and leather jacket, he walked confidently in front of the couch to hug Diana and they proceeded to banter pointlessly while the crowd kept cheering for him. Once they quieted down, Diana began.

"Wow, quite a crowd you got there!"

James laughed. "I know, it's incredible. I love you all." He winked at the cameras, sending the girls into hysterics once again.

"So tell me, James, this weekend is your best friend and fellow band mate's wedding, huh?"

"Yeah, Diana, it is. Kendall's getting married, and he's the first one out of us four in Big Time Rush. It's insane, but I'm really happy for him." He smiled, thinking of his best friend.

"So you're the best man, huh?"

"Yeah, one of them. The other two are Carlos and Logan, as you probably know…" His voice died out as soon as the screams erupted from the mention of the other boys in the band. He laughed.

"It must be quite a hectic day for you, then. Do you fly straight to this wedding's location as soon as you finish up here?"

"Yes, I do."

"And you still can't reveal the location of the wedding, correct?"

"Unfortunately, I can't, due to the privacy of the bride to be. It's a special location for her, and it can't be revealed until after the wedding so the paparazzi won't cause too much trouble for us." He smiled again.

"Speaking of this bride to be, have you met her, James?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. We actually met her as a band at one of our video shoots back in LA a couple years ago. She and Kendall really hit it off. She's a sweetheart."

"And speaking of sweethearts, anyone in particular caught your eye recently, James? It's the middle of summer, time for some summer loving, am I right?"

The crowd went crazy, and James laughed again.

"Well…no. No. I'm single." He smiled his charming smile at the camera for effect.

"Well that's certainly hard to believe! Did you hear that, ladies? Well, I think we're all very excited for Kendall and his lucky lady. We wish them the best. Girls, James is single! So can we count on the fact that a big time love story for you, James, won't be happening any time soon?"

He just smiled.

"You can count on that."

* * *

><p>Valerie flung off her blanket and jumped into her shower to get ready for the day. Blasting the hot water, she showered quickly, skipping her whole singing into the shampoo bottle routine. She actually was a very good singer. She was a performer back in high school, the good old triple threat. She could act, sing, and dance, which usually landed her multiple leads in her high school shows and even inspired her to pursue singing and acting it as a career. But as she began with the label companies late in her senior year, she became aware of the superficiality of the career these days, and refused to pursue something she couldn't be creative in.<p>

Stepping out of the shower, she quickly began to slather lotion on her body while fiddling with the TV in order to put on the news channel and get a glimpse of the weather, with a small amount of hope that her flight would be cancelled because of some storm or something. She really needed to just focus on her work. Finally finding her favorite New York news channel, she turned up the volume and the spokeswoman's voice filled the room.

"…And investigators will be looking into this soon. The case will be held on July 28th and we are expecting to give you updates as well. And now! Moving on to lighter and happier news, we have some big time celebrations coming up this weekend! More specifically, a wedding for one of our teen heartthrobs from one of today's hottest bands. Unfortunately he and his lucky girl couldn't make it, as they are preparing for this weekend at an unknown location. But, have no fear! For we have the band's biggest heartthrob here today, as well as the groom's best friend and best man to give you the details! Everybody, give it up for your favorite Hollywood hottie, Ja-"

Valerie pressed off abruptly and rolled her eyes. It was incredible how even the news channels got so caught up in all the hype, and couldn't even be a reliable source of the job they were meant to do, _inform people about the weather._ Plus, she had her own wedding to worry about this weekend. Finishing moisturizing, she pulled on her undergarments and grabbed the phone, fondling it between her shoulder and her ear.

"Hi, yes, can you bring a cab around to my apartment? Yeah, right off fourth, building on your left. I'll be the one with the suitcases. Thanks."

She hung up quickly and pulled on a floral sundress, throwing on her leather jacket and running her brush quickly through her dark, still wet hair. Flying around the apartment (she probably looked like a maniac from the window), she grabbed her chargers and purse, before running around the opposite side of the bed to grab her suitcase. She slipped her heels on, slapped the light switch off, and grabbed her keys before running out the front door.

A few minutes later, Valerie hopped out of the cab and apologized to the driver before running in quickly to her local favorite coffee shop. Upon her arrival, the cashier, Marge, flashed her a genuine smile before nodding to the boy behind her and mumbling something about "Val's usual", which he quickly proceed to make. Val gratefully mouthed a 'thank you' and a few seconds later, casually slipped to the front counter and grabbed her coffee before slapping down a five and running out of the shop as to not get the customers angry about special treatment.

Before the door closed, Marge called out, "Congratulate Bridget for me!"

Valerie laughed and shouted a, "Will do!" over her shoulder before running back into her cab and instructing him to take her to East Liberty's. Marge was a sweet old woman whom had grown to become great friends with Val, and she knew all about Valerie's best friends. Who, by the way, would be enraged if she missed her flight, which she was taking a close risk to doing just by stopping at work.

Seconds later, she burst through the doors, armed with her coffee and ready to go.

"I'm here, I'm here. Update me." She said as soon as she got out of the elevator, reaching her floor. Frazzled Helena came up to her, speechless.

"It's still not working! I couldn't get the wires to get through again!"

"I told you not to reboot it, Helena! Okay, um…show me where the system locator crashed."

With a few shifts and codings installed, the system started up again and all the files reappeared on the server.

Several thank you's from Helena and a grunt from Greg later, Valerie rode the elevator back down and ran back to the cab, apologizing once more to the driver and directing him to the JFK Airport.

* * *

><p>James' ringtone started to play, disturbing the still quiet of his limo. Frowning, he glanced over at his phone and upon reading the caller id, he groaned loudly and moved to pick it up.<p>

"What?"

"Well, someone's cranky off-screen."

"You're hilarious. What do you want? I was taking a post breakfast nap."

"Post breakfast…? Okay, never mind. I was just calling to make sure that you left for the airport already. I need you, for once, James, _once, _to not be late. _Once._ It's the most important day of my entire life and I swear, if you screw this up for me-"

"Relax, _mom._ I'm in the limo right now, on the way to the airport." James interrupted Kendall. "And technically, today isn't the most important day of your life. Saturday is. Today is just when the good old fun starts."

"Hey, go easy on the sarcasm, pretty boy. Be nice to me. You're technically obliged to as my best man. I can kick you out, you know. I do have two backups." Kendall grinned.

"Speaking of backups, where are the two rascals?"

"Logan just got here this morning." James heard distant yelling from the background, assuming it was Logan yelling hi to James or something. "Carlos' flight gets in around the same time that yours does, so would you mind waiting a few minutes for him? Oh, and would you pick up some extra outdoor mic extension cords? I don't think we have enough."

"Woah, wait…mic extension cords? _Outdoor_ mic extension cords?" James exclaimed. "Who's performing? Are _we _performing?"

"Yeah, we are. Just a few songs. No big deal."

"Alright. But I can't do any flips tonight. I'm still sore from last week's children fundraiser concert and the whole Carlos ramming into my junk fiasco."

"Fine, deal. Okay, it's hitting me. It's hitting me. Holy crap, I can't believe this is happening. I'm getting married, in like two seconds. Like, what? Who does that? Me. I do that. I'm getting married. Wow."

James scoffed. "Yeah, it's a big deal. Don't psych yourself out."

"Shut up. Oh hey, by the way, nice interview today. Very fan-friendly. Thanks for not throwing a fit."

James rolled his eyes again. He really held _everything_ against him.

"Oh, you're welcome. It was hard, but I did it."

"And what was that whole single thing? Are you crazy? What about Julia?" Kendall exclaimed.

"Julia was last Wednesday, Kendall. Keep up."

"You're never gonna change, are you?" Kendall shook his head.

James raised his eyebrows.

"Dear God, let's hope not."

* * *

><p>The flight to North Carolina, where the wedding was being held, wasn't long. Valerie was used to travelling because her family would take plenty of paid vacations and cruises due to the benefits of her father's job. The flight went off without any problems, if you don't count the little 8 year old girl who was sitting next to her with her mother. She had her earphones in, but her music was blasting, and Valerie could clearly hear some boy band belting out lyrics about how they were looking for boyfriends, or something. Valerie could have pondered over the very evident subject of what the younger generation's music tastes had come to, but she decided to ignore it and prepare herself for the long overdue reunion of her and her friends.<p>

She walked out to the greeting area and was immediately bombarded by the squeals and shrieks of Bridget and Abby, who, as soon as they spotted Val, ran to her screaming and arms flailing. Their group was nothing but loud, and the small greeting audience seemed to share a chuckle or two, but they didn't even notice. Valerie was shocked at how much her friends had changed in the last year.

Bridget's bubbly personality still hadn't faded, but her blonde hair had grown out past her shoulder blades and cascaded down her back, now infused with dark brown undertones and hues. Her bright green eyes shined with content and her nonstop chatter didn't seem to fade the entire time they all waited for Sophia's flight to land.

Abby, on the other hand, looked just the same, but seemed to be a whole lot different. Her usually straight brown hair was curled slightly, but other than that, her shy smile and graceful stance still proved to be the same. However, she seemed much more verbal and happy, and her usually serious demeanor had lessened to a playful one.

Sophia came through the doors shortly afterwards, and was met with the same excitement and shrillness that Val had been greeted with. Sophia's large green eyes glimmered with excitement and her beautiful reddish brown hair bounced when she talked. The four best friends walked together to Bridget's parent's car, which she had borrowed, and piled their things in there.

For a moment it seemed like things were normal again. Sophia complained about Bridget's rash driving, Valerie criticized almost every person she saw walking down the street for some reason or the other, and Abby kept trying to keep the situation under control. It hadn't hit them how much they actually missed eachother until now, and even Abby couldn't stop laughing at Valerie's resentful remarks about some young boys she spotted with their pants halfway to their knees. They decided to have a quick lunch to catch up on each other's lives, but didn't get much of a chance to when Bridget's sister called and panicked about some of her distant relative's flights getting cancelled from Europe due to a snowstorm. They decided to catch up later, once the hectic day of flying in had calmed down and drove back to Bridget's grandparent's large estate. Valerie gasped at the beauty of the place; it was huge. No wonder she decided to have the wedding here where her grandparents lived. The estate was large enough to house all the guests, as well as close enough to the hall where the wedding was taking place. Bridget even told them that it was a five minutes walking distance from the beach, where the beach party (a family tradition) would be taking place tonight.

They drove up to the estate and were greeted warmly by Bridget's family, whom Valerie hadn't seen in so long. She was introduced to her grandparents and some of her long distance family, and then shown to her room where she settled down and took in the view of the beach from her window towards the back of the house. Forget walking distance; Valerie could nearly jump down from her window, land in the bushes, and run a few hundred feet and immediately meet the shore. She quickly washed her face and freshened up before setting up her laptop on her bed and trying to find a network to connect to so she could check her email.

Finally, after minutes of attempts, she was able to check her work email and take care of business. A knock was heard, and the door swung open.

"Hey." Sophia said, sauntering into the room and plopping down on the bed next to Valerie. Spotting her laptop, she groaned.

"Val, come on! You're on a vacation! It's Bridget's wedding, for crying out loud!"

"I know, I know, just one quick work email, and that's all for the night, I promise."

"You're a liar." Sophia said.

"And _you're _as annoying as I remember."

They scowled at eachother and Valerie turned back to her work. Abby then burst through the door.

"Have you guys _seen _the best men? Ho-oh-oh-oh-oh-ly crap, I think I'm in love."

They all laughed at Abby's unusual burst of excitement. Abby adored guys, but she usually stated it in a more subtle way.

"Wow, Abs. If that's coming from you, then they must be Greek gods." Sophia stated.

"Oh, you don't even know." She gushed, flopping down on the bed next to Sophia. "They're all absolutely gorgeous. They're his band mates and if Bridget was able to pick one out of the whole group, then damn, he must be heavenly because I don't think I've ever seen a group of more attractive guys in my entire life. And they can sing! They're performing tonight at the beach party…" she gabbled on to Sophia, while Valerie turned back to her work.

"Crap, no no no," she said suddenly.

"What happened?" Abby and Sophia both turned to face Valerie.

"My company's system shut down again. I have to call them. Gimme two seconds." She hopped off the bed and walked over to the private bathroom, phone pressed to her ear while Sophia and Abby looked on with concern.

"Man, she hasn't changed, huh?" Abby pointed out.

"Nope." Sophie sighed. "What can we do? We have to pry her away from her work. She needs to loosen up."

"Did she mention anything besides her work life on the way home?" Abby asked.

Sophia chuckled and shook her head.

"Course not. That's Val for you."

Just then, Bridget opened the door and saw the two girls.

"Oh, _there_ you are! Where's Val?" The girls gestured to the bathroom, where they could hear a muted voice giving out sharp instructions.

"Oh. Let me guess, business call? Well you guys still have to meet my fiancé! And I haven't officially introduced you to the best men. As my maids of honor, you guys will be walking down the aisle with them_._ And they're beautiful human beings, let me tell you."

Abby agreed fervently.

"Oh, and Sophia, your parents and Val's parents just landed a couple minutes ago. They should be here in about a half hour. I missed your family so much, Soph! I can't wait to see them!"

Sophia snorted. "That makes one of us."

The girls laughed.

"Oh come on, you know you missed them." Bridget teased.

Valerie returned from the bathroom. She saw all three girls look at her questioningly.

"Sorry, you guys. Just something I had to take care of. It's all good now."

The three girls stared at her.

"What?" Valerie said innocently, but she knew what was coming. _It _was coming. _The Talk._

Bridget stood up first.

"We have to go meet my fiancé, and the rest of the wedding party. And your parents will be here soon, too. We're going to go downstairs and socialize, and then we're going to teach you, Val, how to live a little for once in your life."

Valerie sighed. There was nothing she could do to get out of this.

Yeah, today sucked.

* * *

><p><strong>AHHHHHHH. I just read that and didn't like it at all. Oh, goodness. Please review and make my day. :) Next chapter will or will not be up depending on the feedback! And thanks for reading :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: OH MY GOD! Thank you so so so much to those of you who reviewed! I really appreciated your feedback, you guys seriously made my day. You are all so sweet :) Sorry it took me so long, but here's chapter two! Enjoy. :)**

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><p>James groaned at the soreness of his shoulders. The tangled mess of microphone and amp cords that he and Carlos had been carrying from their limo seemed like it weighed a ton, and he felt like a wimp, but these cords were ridiculously thick. They had been walking around the grand entrance of Bridget's grandparent's estate for twenty minutes, trying to grab the attention of the elderly folk they were surrounded by. They couldn't find anyone who could tell them where to put the cords down, and they didn't want to risk setting them down anywhere in a place where the fragile elderly people could trip and fall and die. The entrance was very hectic, full of people milling about, greeting each other and carrying luggage up the stairs and into various rooms. Everyone looked ridiculously giddy, and James couldn't help but roll his eyes.<p>

He was simply exhausted from the flight from New York (first class just wasn't good enough for him anymore) and Carlos' chirpy excitement for the wedding the entire limo ride back to the estate didn't help his increasing headache, either. James was kind of excited too, though he would never admit that. One of his best friends was getting married, and he felt way older than he should be. He felt kind of behind, in a way. Out of all of his friends, he was the only one who had never been in a serious relationship. He usually took pleasure to having that "ladies' man" status, and it gave him kind of an unspoken right to be a…well, frankly, to be a douche bag. But now, it was hitting him that he was behind, and he needed to grow up. Perhaps he could settle down, buy a dog or something. Look for a permanent place. Maybe find a girlfriend, even.

_Ugh…girlfriend._ He shuddered at the very word. Yeah, never mind…that wasn't going to happen.

"…think it was thirty nine? So everyone gets their own room. I was like, HOLY BEJESUS! Except I didn't say it out loud, even though that's what I was thinking the entire conversation. But it's an even cooler place than I thought it would be! Of course, half the guest's families are in the hotel a few minutes away, but mostly everyone's here…" Carlos babbled on and on.

"Carlos! Stop talking for two seconds, please! We need to figure out where to dump this stuff," James gestured to the heavy mess of cords in his tan arms. "I'm going to die if I hold these any longer."

"Hey, you guys!" someone called behind their shoulder. James and Carlos turned around and spotted Logan making his way through the slow moving crowd in the grand entrance. Carlos shouted a hi back, and practically tackled Logan with a hug when he reached the pair.

"Carlos, I just saw you last week at the charity concert." Logan said laughing, prying himself away from his delighted best friend.

James gave Logan a slight smile and a nod before gesturing to the wires in his arms.

"A little help?"

"Right." Logan said, glancing around. "We'll find a place for those. Oh, James, great interview today. Yeah. Thanks for talking about my extremely personal and intimate relationship with Camille oh so openly. Appreciated it."

"Anything for you, man." James smirked.

"She's going to kill me for telling you everything, I hope you know. Which will result in me killing you."

"Hey, they wanted the dirt. You should have gone for that interview instead of me. They asked for any member of Big Time Rush."

"Oh, please, James. You love the spotlight. You wouldn't have let any of us go even if we wanted to, and you know it." Logan exclaimed, playfully glaring at his friend.

"Well, they did personally request The Face."

"If your ego gets any bigger, I think this giant mansion is going to explode." Carlos chimed in.

Before James could retaliate, he spotted a girl with light brown hair gawking at the boys from the staircase. Upon seeing James looking at her, she blushed furiously and ran the rest of the way up the stairs, disappearing into the hallway. James laughed to himself. He had that effect on girls. Nothing new for him.

"Oh hey look, it's Kendall!" Carlos exclaimed suddenly. James turned to look in Carlos' direction, following his gaze and saw his other best friend making his way through the elderly very carefully.

"Hey, guys!" Kendall smiled at Carlos and James. He reached over to hug them over the bundle of cords in their arms.

They all exchanged familiar greetings, and then Carlos looked closely at Kendall before smiling.

"Wow, look at you, getting all huggy and emotional. Forget blushing bride, Kendall. You look like the happiest man in the whole world."

Kendall shyly dipped his head down and grinned, dimples showing.

"I am." He stated, smiling, tracing a path with the corner of his shoe.

James laughed at his friend's newfound mushiness. He'd never seen this side of Kendall. Wow, falling in love sure did change you. He wasn't sure if he liked it.

"He's been like this all day. He was supposed to help me unpack earlier, but he wouldn't shut up about his darling fiancé. I swear, I think I know Bridget's life story now." Logan rolled his eyes and smiled up at his blonde friend.

Kendall just looked up at his friends and blushed deeply, with a silly smile on his face.

Yeah, James was definitely sure he didn't like it.

"Speaking of your darling fiancé, where is she? I haven't seen her since you brought her to the Christmas party last year." Carlos enquired.

"She should be coming soon. She's bringing her whole maid of honor clan. Which coincidentally, is also three other girls." Kendall said, a hint of laughter in his voice. "Don't get any ideas, James." He added.

James pretended to look taken aback. "What an insulting assumption, Kendall. Really."

Kendall just returned him with a raised eyebrow and a bored look, which James scowled back at.

"Where do you want me to keep these dumb wires? They may not look heavy, but believe me, I think my arms are about to fall off." James said.

"Oh, you guys can just put them off to the side, right next to- oh! Look, there's Bridget!" Kendall ran over to the bottom of the staircase, awaiting Bridget and her friends to come all the way down the staircase. James rolled his eyes, but followed him, along with Logan and Carlos.

James watched the girls walk down. He smiled at Bridget, whom he had known for two years now. Her pretty face was framed with wavy blonde hair, and her eyes sparkled as she returned James' smile. Behind her was the girl with the brown hair whom he had seen staring at them earlier. She blushed slightly when she saw the boys. Following her was a slightly taller girl with long reddish brown hair and a haunting gaze, her green eyes looking down at the boys with an amused expression on her face. Lastly behind her was a girl with medium, slightly wavy dark hair and green eyes. She walked down the stairs behind her friends, looking like she was about to be sentenced for death.

He laughed silently to himself. This was going to be fun.

"Kendall!" Bridget exclaimed when she reached the bottom step. Kendall took her in a tight embrace, and the other six stood their awkwardly, waiting for them to finish their moment. Glancing over, he saw that the three girls were looking over Kendall carefully, with obvious approval on their faces.

"You guys, this is Kendall, my fiancé." Bridget turned to the girls after Kendall had let go of her. The girls all mumbled hellos' and congratulations' before turning to the other three guys.

"I'm Logan. This is Carlos and James." Logan smiled brightly and gestured to the boys next to him. Carlos attempted a wave with his hand that was caught in the wires, and James just flashed his most charming smile, which he saw the red head and brown haired girl melt at. He frowned slightly when he saw the dark haired girl remained unfazed, just staring at him, acknowledging his presence and nothing more.

"You girls are our maids of honor, correct?" Logan asked.

"Yeah." The red head stated. "I'm Sophia, and this is Abby." She gestured to the brown haired girl. "And this is-"

The sharp ringing of a cell phone cut through the air, and the dark haired girl's eyes widened before she gestured to the boys with her index finger.

"I'll be right back." With that, she grabbed her cell phone out of her dress pocket and walked a few steps away, already talking.

"Val!" Sophia, Abby, and Bridget all called after her, annoyed.

"Val, huh?" James said, eyeing her. She didn't even realize that she had just left a conversation with Big Time Rush. This girl must be crazy.

"Sorry about her, you guys." Abby turned to face the boys again, smiling apologetically. "She's a little…"

"Well…" Bridget trailed off.

"Anyway, you guys are the best men, huh?" Sophia changed the topic.

"We sure are." Carlos said.

"Bridget talks about you guys all the time. You guys are a band, Big Time Rush, right?" Abby stated.

"Best tween band you'll ever hear." Logan joked.

"Hey, now! We attract more than just tweens, don't we, Bridget?" Kendall laughed, turning to his fiancé.

"Who said I'm attracted to you?"Bridget joked.

James finally cut in. He had enough of this pointless wedding banter.

"Sorry to interrupt this riveting conversation, but Kendall? The wires?" James exclaimed, slightly louder in order to get everyone's attention.

"Shh!" Val sharply whispered at James, holding her fingers above the mouthpiece of her phone. James looked at her, shocked. Did she just _shush_ him?

"Did you just _shush_ me?"

"Yes! Shut up! I'm on the phone!" she whispered loudly, eyes flashing, before turning away and resuming her conversation.

James just stared at her. Who did she think she was? Brushing it off, he turned back to the conversation between the wedding party, which had turned to ceremony planning.

"…could have Abby and Logan go together, after them. And then that leaves James and Val, who will form the last couple walking down the aisle before Bridget walks down. We could do toasts in that same order, too. What do you think?" Logan was saying, and everyone nodded in agreement. James scoffed. Awesome, he got to walk down the aisle with the crazy phone girl who shushed him.

"Can I change my partner?" James spoke up again, and that time he felt something smack his already tired arm.

"Wha-ow! What was that for?" He whirled around to see Val standing there with fiery eyes, still on the phone.

"Do you have to yell everything you say? I'm on an important call here, in case you didn't catch that, and I was wondering if you could shut up for two seconds since you obviously can't speak at a normal volume like everyone else." Val whisper-shouted at an appalled James.

He hated her guts already.

"I wasn't even talking lo-" He was cut off by her, who resumed talking to the person on the other line. She turned away and he turned back to face the girls and his friends, who were all looking at him, amused.

"What? I wasn't even talking loudly!" James exclaimed, receiving another light hit to his back. He had just been talking at his normal volume. Was it slightly louder than everybody else? Sure, but that's only because he was James Diamond. Everything about him demanded attention. That's just how it was.

"James, you always talk loud. You're practically screaming right now." Carlos stated. He turned back to the others, resuming the conversation. They went on bantering for another few minutes. James was sick of it. He was still confused about this crazy girl who kept hitting him, and he wanted to go somewhere else. He waited a few minutes before speaking up again, louder this time, on purpose.

"Kendall, seriously. This is the last time I'm telling you. My arms are exhausted and these wires are killing me, where do you-"

"Oh, for goodness sakes'. Helena, I'll call you back." Val walked over a few steps to the crowd again, snapping her phone shut and sliding it into her pocket.

"Where do you want the wires, Kendall?" she asked, point-blank.

"Uh, by the stage on the beach. James can take them, it's fi-"

"I don't think he can." Val just glared at James before gathering the tangled web of wires from James' arms and brushing past him out the door, and started to head for the beach.

The seven of them stood there, astounded, watching Val leave.

Finally, a confused Kendall spoke up.

"Is she, um…is she always like this?"

The girls looked at each other before Sophia spoke up.

"Well, she's always been feisty, but I don't think I've ever seen her hate someone so fast before."

Six pairs of eyes drifted towards James. James didn't notice. He just stared at Val's retreating figure in disbelief.

* * *

><p>The sun was still shining brightly. Valerie got to the shore and walked along the water towards the large makeshift stage. She kind of felt bad for hitting that guy back there, even though he did deserve it. She cringed when she thought of him. She hated his guts, and she didn't even know him. Hell, she had forgotten his name.<p>

Valerie had always been judgmental when it came to guys. That was just her. And she just had to take one look at that charming smile to know his story. She had him all figured out.

She reached the edge of the stage and dropped the heavy wires beside it before trudging back slowly towards the mansion. She knew she was going to get a big scolding from her friends for her behavior from a "perfectly nice and attractive guy." Valerie wasn't fooled, but her friends would be. She walked past the shrubbery and onto the estate grounds, spotting her parents from far away.

Awesome.

They were greeting Sophia and her parents, and they spotted her in the distance, waving her over fervently. Valerie faked a smile and sighed.

"Here we go."

* * *

><p>"No, no, her skin looks better against white. It shows off her tan."<p>

"But red looks so good on her!"

"I still think this is a dumb idea-"

"Shut up, Val. We need to do damage control."

Valerie sighed and collapsed on her bed. Her friends were absolutely ridiculous.

After greeting her parents and bearing the pressing questions about her life in New York (or more specifically, her non-existent love life in New York), Val had escorted her parents to the nearby hotel to get ready for the beach barbeque. On the way back, Valerie had to stop herself from jumping out the taxi window. She loved her parents, she really did. But when it came to weddings…they realized how very single Valerie was, and they wouldn't let her forget it.

When she got back to the mansion, everybody was heading down to the beach already for the celebration. Her friends spotted her and dragged her to her room, flinging open her suitcase, and pulling out all of her clothes to try and find something to wear for tonight.

"Seriously, Val. Immediate damage control. James was the one guy who wasn't scared of you when he met you, and you just ruined it." Sophia's voice was muffled while she dug around the suitcase.

James! Right. That was his name.

"I ruined it? He was complaining like a little child. Loudly." Val retaliated.

"Guys usually don't like it when you steal their thunder. You made him feel weak." Bridget said.

"He is weak." Val mumbled to herself, watching Abby hold up two prospective bathing suits.

"Okay, you need to pick now, guys. Kendall and the guys are about to start their performance."

Valerie's eyes widened. She had forgotten they were famous. Now she really didn't want to go. Her friends wouldn't let her out of it, though. She had no choice.

Her friends finally decided on something and threw Val a white two piece bikini, a red tank top, and some denim shorts. Val sighed at the heap of clothes. Her friends walked out the door, shutting it behind them.

"We'll see you there, Val!"

* * *

><p>James loved the natural high he got from performing, even if it was just for the elderly people and some younger children. They were all clearly enjoying it, and so was he. He threw Kendall a glance as they finished their song. Kendall was beaming with pride. James knew the feeling. He felt great, too. He looked even better, in his Prada green sleeveless hoody jacket and designer swimming trunks. He saw Kendall's thirteen year old cousins swoon when he flashed them a smile.<p>

James was determined to have fun tonight and not let crazy slapping girl get to him. There were plenty of Bridget's other girlfriends here, and it was a beach party. This is where he did what he did best. He wasn't thinking about Val at all, and how her eyes were like daggers, piercing his soul when he spoke. Yep, not thinking about her at all.

"Thank you, everybody! Please enjoy the food at the barbeque table and help yourselves to anything. We'll start a game of volleyball in a couple of minutes at sunset for whoever wants to play. I just want to thank you again for being here for me and Bridget. We appreciate it and we love you all! Enjoy the waves!" Kendall spoke into the microphone. The small crowd cheered, and the boys hopped off the platform one by one.

Sophia, Bridget, and Abby greeted the boys as they hopped off, congratulating them on their performance.

"You guys, Gustavo Rocque is here. I just saw him. This is crazy!" sighed Abby.

Logan laughed.

"Yeah, he's an old friend of ours. He signed us to our first label."

"Where's Val?" Carlos asked, looking around.

"She should be comi- oh! There she is." Abby saw Val make her way across the beach slowly. Val spotted the group and sighed, walking over.

"Hi, you guys."

"Hey," everybody chimed, with the exception of James.

"James." Val said, fire flashing in her eyes. All the guilt from being rude to him earlier disappeared when she saw his cocky smile.

"Val." He retorted.

The two of them had a silent stare down, not moving in the slightest degree. The others watched intently, their gazes moving back and forth between the two. Finally, after what seemed like forever, James scowled and looked away, earning a triumphant smile from Val.

"We're going to head over to the net to play a friendly game of volleyball. You girls want to come?" Logan asked, breaking the silence.

The three girls said yes enthusiastically before looking over at Val. Valerie usually loved beach volleyball, but she just wasn't in the mood tonight. She smiled and shook her head no at the boys before turning around and walking over to the long buffet table to grab some food.

She spotted a large cooler filled to the rim with beer bottles. Val thought about everything that had happened today. Her friends, her family, James who wouldn't shut up, and her non-existent love life which everybody just loved rubbing her face in. And her friends had told her to have fun and live a little, right?

Valerie grabbed a bottle.

* * *

><p>James didn't know why he wasn't focusing on the game. He was always the most athletic in high school, and he kicked butt in beach volleyball. Kendall may have been slightly better than James on the ice back in the day, but James always showed him up on the sand. Carlos, Logan, and Kendall depended on his excellent volleyball skills that one time that they had picked a fight with Jett and got trapped into a competition, and Big Time Rush's victory was all thanks to him.<p>

So why was he losing to the other team by 12 points?

He needed to stop lying to himself. He knew the reason very well, but he wouldn't admit it. He had caught himself looking behind his shoulder at Val several times, and it was starting to get ridiculous. He didn't know why, but something about that girl just…bothered him. It was annoying, to be honest. He hated her guts. He had tried to win her over from the moment they met, but somehow his smile didn't work on her. Nothing worked on her. It was like she was immune to attractiveness, or something.

She was crazy. And she hit really hard. He hated her. And he needed to stop thinking about her.

Rubbing his eyes, James crouched down and focused on the ball. He was going to win. He always did.

And he wasn't talking about volleyball this time.

* * *

><p>Val never got drunk. In fact, she hated people who were drunk. They were impossible to control, and said the strangest, most disturbing things that left you questioning the real impact of society on the world. That's pretty much why she hated family reunions.<p>

She was still on her first bottle, having barely drunken half of it. She sighed and walked closer to the shoreline, looking out at the dim stars. The sun had almost disappeared, and the lazy orange glow illuminated the sand and water. It was a beautiful place, it really was. Bridget was going to have perfect wedding memories here, and Val was really happy for her. Sighing at the beauty, she rose her beer bottle to her lips and suddenly heard someone yell "Watch out!"

Out of nowhere, a volleyball came flying and knocked the bottle out of her hands, spilling its contents all over her front side. Valerie stood there, stunned, until a breathless James came running up beside her.

"Hey, sorry about that." He laughed when he saw the front side of her tank top, now soaked with beer.

Valerie glared at him.

"Do you think this is funny?"

James tried to stifle his laughter and looked back at her.

"Yeah, I do. I told you to watch out, and I said it pretty loudly, too. Not my fault that you didn't hear me this time." He grinned cockily.

Valerie scowled at him.

"Very funny." She glared, and he started laughing again. She leaned down and grabbed the ball before thrusting it, hard, into his stomach, causing him to choke on his laughter. She glowered at him before turning away on her heel back to the beers.

"Val, wait up!" James called, throwing the ball back to the players and signaling for them to continue without him. Running up the beach, he finally caught up with Val at the buffet table.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay, though?" James said in his sweetest voice. Valerie just grabbed another beer from the cooler and looked up at him with a hard stare.

"I'm fine." She walked farther out away from the party until reaching the shoreline where she popped the bottle open and took a swig, James right behind her.

"Are you sure? You look a little on edge, babe." James said smoothly.

"Don't call me that." Val snapped. "And a little on edge? Hmm, maybe it's because I'm soaked with beer, thanks to you."

James smirked.

"You could always just take off your shirt."

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, you're on a beach!" he held up his arms in defense.

"Ugh. You disgust me."

"Aw, come on. There has to be something you like about me. I'm not buying this passive thing of yours."

Val turned to face him, getting close to his body.

"Look, James. I know your type. You're just like every other famous person here. And I'm not buying your whole act, either. So I think we should just leave each other alone. That seems like the best option, and honestly? Your whole charming smile thing? Yeah, it doesn't work on me. Goodbye."

She turned to walk away, but barely had taken a step when he spoke up.

"You think my smile is charming, huh?"

Valerie laughed to herself. He was good. He knew how to push her buttons, surprisingly, despite the fact that they had met barely a few hours ago. She hated him, but she had to give him credit, because she wasn't exactly the most readable person in the world. In fact, she was really difficult to read, which made her even more unapproachable. But James didn't seem to let that get in his way.

"Perhaps. I can't say that much about your personality, though." Valerie said, turning back around.

"Aw, Val. Don't say that. You don't even know me." James smiled slightly.

"Do I even need to get to know you, James? You're not that hard to figure out, despite what you may think."

"Ouch," he said, patting his heart. "I used to think of myself as a man of mystery."

"You're not funny, either."

"Okay, now that one was just mean."

"Would you like me to keep going?"

"Huh. So you have a list." James stared at her, squinting slightly. She nodded.

"You really think you have me all figured out, don't you, Val?"

"I know I have you figured out, James. You're the same as everyone else in the business." Val spat.

Wow, he hated her.

"How would you know what people in the business are like?"

"Let's just say there are a lot of things you don't know about me." Val said, turning away, but he stopped her.

"So to you, I'm just like everybody else. But you're all different, because you think you're the only one who has a real story, just because you're not in the business. You won't even give me a chance. You think I'm just another popstar living the famous life. You think I'm just another shallow douche bag. Don't you?"

Val hesitated.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You know, for someone who's so special and unlike everyone else, you sure judge quickly."

God, she hated him.

"Judge? James, you know I'm right. You know that's exactly what you are."

"You know, you think you're SO different than anyone else here. Well, you're not."

Valerie scoffed and gestured to several of the famous producers and actresses whom had been invited to the wedding. They were close friends of the band, and they were gathered around a picnic table near the volleyball net.

"Look around, James. Everyone here is just a digital copy, and you know that."

James looked at her like he was in pain. He sighed heavily, and then stared straight into her eyes.

"I'm not."

"What?" Valerie said, taken aback. She wasn't expecting that.

His eyes flashed. He couldn't control his rapidly flying thoughts. He needed to show her, he needed to prove it to her. This was completely unlike him. He didn't know what compelled him to say what he said next, but whatever it was, it had completely taken over his brain, and suddenly the words were pouring out.

"I'm different. And I DARE you to not fall in love with me, Val."

* * *

><p>Back at the volleyball net, Kendall, Logan, and Carlos had taken a quick water break before resuming their game, which they were losing to the girls, badly. While walking back to the net, Carlos spotted James and Valerie standing inches apart from each other, staring at each other intently and angrily.<p>

"Hey, look, you guys." He gestured over to the two. Kendall and Logan followed his gaze across the beach and saw them as well, confusion sweeping across their faces.

"What's happening over there?" Logan asked.

"I don't know, they're probably fighting." Carlos said, laughing.

Kendall chuckled along with him.

"Let's just hope James doesn't do anything stupid."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you so so much! And review! :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, everyone! I just want to thank you all SO SO SO MUCH for all of the alerts and subscriptions and reviews! They really do make my day. :) You guys are the bestttt! You make me smile like crazy. Thank you, thank you, thank you.**

**So this chapter is much shorter. It's more fun and light than the detail heavy chapters you guys had to read before, so I hope you enjoy it. :) I hope your expectations weren't too high, though, because it didn't really live up to mine. I'm kind of having some problems with figuring out what's going to happen next because the story was so different in my head, but I hope you guys like it anyway. I promise, it's slow moving now but it's going to pick up soon! Thank you for reading and reviewing! :)**

* * *

><p>He wanted to melt.<p>

He wanted to melt the second that her name had escaped from his lips. He wanted to sun to rise back up again into the dark sky, fly towards him at lightening speed, and smack him in the face so he would just melt into a big puddle of popstar.

He really couldn't believe what he had just said. It's not what he intended to say, either. He enjoyed the conformity of fame. He liked being a douche bag. He loved it, actually. Why was he so set on proving to this random girl he met barely three hours ago that he was so different? So special? They both knew he wasn't. In fact, all of her accusations had been dead on. James didn't know how she knew it, but she did, and she was right.

But something in her words had pained him.

And he didn't really know what.

What really confused James was why he said what he said. Just this morning he was on TV, announcing to the world and to all of his adoring female fans that he was most certainly single. He had just dumped his last flavor of the week, and was probably the last person to ever commit to anything or anyone in general. There was no way that he could have gotten tangled up in such a complicated situation within the last thirty seconds.

He was the last person looking for love.

But here he was, standing face to face with an independent, psychotic know-it-all that he had met three hours ago, on a beach at night at his best friend's wedding, shooting daggers back at her while internally debating whether to just drop dead or not.

Awesome.

He still didn't know why he was so stupid. James couldn't figure it out right now. He couldn't try to dissect their conversation and figure out what had inclined him to say the dumbest possible thing on the earth. It certainly wasn't a good conversation starter, and it obviously landed them nowhere, because now, here he was, staring at her intently, almost nervous. He never got nervous. Jeez, what was she doing to him?

She was staring back.

Her jaw had dropped open in disbelief, which pretty much matched his exact feelings at the moment. She seemed to realize what she was doing, and snapped her jaw shut quickly before attempting to compose herself. She took on a strict face of neutrality, showing no emotion.

James got confused, but attempted to mask a firm, steady gaze of anger. He kept trying to remember how angry he had been feeling towards her before. But at the moment, he wasn't particularly successful at remembering any of his reasons.

Her eyes were boring into him, like literally piercing his soul. He wanted to _run._ Away from a girl whom he didn't even know. What kind of powers did she possess? He couldn't think functionally as he watched her closely, her face completely deadpanned with the exception of her eyes, which flashed with fire.

He couldn't read this girl for the life of him.

He wanted to understand her. He wanted to know what was going through her head, and from the looks of it, he wasn't expecting it to exactly be a positive response. He was right.

She slapped him.

It was a sudden movement, too sudden for him to duck or anything. At first, he didn't see her hand, and just felt the impact on his cheek. He thought that perhaps his melting dream had come true. Maybe the sun had just smacked him in the face, and was going to disappear any second. But after he opened his eyes, he saw her staring at him again, with a much more readable expression on her face.

She hated him.

He blinked, trying to make sense of what was happening. He could hear everybody else a couple hundred yards away, having a ball. He wished he was over there, still miserably losing to the Val's friends at volleyball, instead of standing in front of the one person who wouldn't cry and squeal and scream if James fell off a bridge or something.

Hell, she would probably be the one to push him off of it, judging by the expression she had right now.

James had two options. He could use his impeccable acting skills to play off his outburst, turning it into a conceited joke that Val would probably not fall for, but ignore anyway. Or he could go ahead with this dare, which he knew she would accept because she was obviously as competitive as he was, and basically jump into the most committed relationship in the history of the world, battling this girl at trying to get her to fall in love with him, which in this case, would be completely impossible to do.

He chose the former.

Although all this contemplation seemed to swarm his mind for a million years, it had only been a few seconds, so it wouldn't seem that strange if James spoke up now. Would it? They both hadn't moved from their close positions, tension radiating from both bodies. He cleared his throat.

"I, um…just kidding."

Okay, he officially died inside. What was that? Was he stupid?

Yeah. Yeah, he was.

Valerie's eyebrows shot up.

"What?"

James kept it up. He would be more convincing that way.

"Just kidding. It was a joke." He smirked.

Valerie's expression changed from confusion to anger.

"What…what do you mean just kidding? I don't even know…what..? What did you mean when you said that?"

"Said what?" James asked innocently, secretly wishing he was being mauled by a bear instead. He wished they could just forget about it and move on. He didn't want her to think he was serious.

Did he?

Valerie rolled her eyes.

"You know what you said, James."

"Erm…no."

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" His voice grew weaker. She obviously wasn't the type of girl who let things go.

Lucky him.

Valerie's expression suddenly changed. A spark lit her eyes, and she stood up taller. James watched her arch a delicate eyebrow before she spoke up in a soft, sultry voice.

"Do you dare me, James?" A slight smile played at the corner of her lips.

James got suspicious. What did she want?

"I…what?"

"Do you dare me? To try and not fall in love with you?" Valerie shifted closer, their bodies barely inches apart. He stared down at her, curious.

Option number two wasn't looking so bad now.

He wasn't sure what type of force drove him to do it, probably the same one that compelled him to say stupid things in front of girls who hated him, but he opened his mouth to speak, a surge of self confidence overwhelming him. He would prove it to her, even if there was nothing there to prove. But he would.

"Yeah, I do. I dare you, Val."

She smiled, her eyebrow still raised defiantly, her eyes staring up at him.

"I accept. And I dare you back."

Okay, now that he wasn't expecting.

His taken aback look must have been obvious, because Val rolled her eyes and started to explain.

"I bet that I can get you to fall in love with me before you can get me to fall in love with you, James. Whatever it takes. This weekend, I swear, one of us will be head over heels. The one who makes it through without falling madly in love with the other wins. And I think we both know who that person will be."

She smirked. James scoffed, looking away quickly, breaking eye contact for a second.

"You really think you can get me to settle down? Me? To fall in love with you? Val, I know you just met me, but come on. Do I look like the type of guy who falls in love?" He said the word love like he was talking about the Anti-Christ.

"Do I look like the type of girl who falls in love?" She retorted, hands on her hips.

James eyed her suspiciously. This girl was so sure she was going to win this little game of theirs. He couldn't help it. He immediately stepped closer, practically closing the distance between their bodies and used the advantage of his height to stare down at her.

"You're on."

* * *

><p>Back at the net, the girls had just won another game. Sighing heavily, Kendall dropped down onto the sand near the water, Logan and Carlos following him and doing the same.<p>

"Aw, come on, you guys. Don't be upset. You put up a decent fight." Sophia teased, settling down next to Carlos and lightly punching his shoulder. Bridget and Abby followed her, sitting down beside them happily, several beer bottles in their hand, cold from the cooler. They handed them out to the defeated boys.

"Decent? We lost every single game. You killed us," mourned Carlos, shaking his head and taking a large gulp from his beer.

Sophia smiled smugly.

"Yeah, we know."

"We're usually pretty good. I wonder what got us so tripped up tonight." Kendall furrowed his eyebrows.

"Nah, I think it's just because we're better." Bridget smiled.

"Yeah, you just keep thinking that."

"You know, we would have won if James had kept playing with us." Logan piped in.

"I don't know, man. He seemed pretty out of it." Kendall said.

"Where is James?" Logan looked back at the party, searching for his best friend.

"Yeah, and where's Val? Were they together?" Abby asked the group.

Carlos snickered.

"They were. We saw them having a stare down or something right before we started playing our last round."

Bridget rolled her eyes.

"Typical Val."

"Typical James." Chimed the boys.

"So he's competitive too, huh?" asked Sophia.

"I don't think he's ever lost anything to anyone in his entire life," Kendall stated, shaking his head. "Oh, except for once in third grade, he lost the class president election, and a couple hockey games. But that's it."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Bridget laughed quietly.

"You know, one time, Val punched a guy in the face for telling her to make him a sandwich."

The boys started to laugh, and Sophia joined them, pondering at the memory.

"I remember that. Sophomore year, right? Yeah, she's always been a feminist. Competitive is an understatement."

The six of them sat quietly, smiling at the memories of their two friends.

"Oh, there they are." Logan said suddenly, squinting, spotting two dimly illuminated figures standing apart from the rest of the party on the other side of the beach.

The group followed his gaze and squinted, trying to make out the figures before declaring that it was definitely James and Valerie.

"What are they doing?" Abby enquired, leaning to the left slightly, trying to see from a better angle.

"It looks like they're… staring. Still?" Carlos said, concentrating on the two.

Kendall cocked his head to the side.

"Woah, do you guys see his face? He's on an emotional roller coaster. I swear, he's had about sixty different emotions flash in his eyes in the last ten seconds."

"What do you think they're talking about?" asked Bridget.

"They're not talking, at all. They're just staring." Sophia replied, adjusting her body to get a better look.

"Man, she looks pissed."

"I bet he said something stupid."

"He's usually good with girls, though. Why would he say something stupid?"

"It's Val. She makes conversation hard with anybody."

"She can't be that bad. I'm telling you, it's James. He said something."

"What do you think he said?"

"Probably something about him being free later tonight."

"Well, whatever he said, she's pissed."

"Val gets pissed at everything."

"I don't think I've ever seen any girl on this planet look at James the way she is right now."

"Look at him with what, intense hatred?"

"Exactly."

"Oh, I know that look. James is about to say something."

"Something stupid, I bet."

"Wait for it…"

They watched intently for James to say something, and instead saw Valerie slap him across his face. Sympathetic 'ooohs' came from the boys, whereas the girls just shook their heads in disappointment.

"Oh, Val."

"I told you. He said something."

"She slapped him. She really slapped him."

"He said something stupid. I knew it!"

"She's hopeless."

"He's an idiot."

"Okay, is it just me or can you totally feel the sexual tension between them from all the way here?"

"Oh, definitely."

The group murmured in agreement at Sophia's comment and kept watching the pair intently.

"He's doing that thing again. That emotional roller coaster thing."

"He looks like he's going to pass out."

"Do you see how close they are?"

"Look at her eyes. They're on fire. I swear, that girl has anger issues."

"If looks could kill…"

"Well, James would be dead right now, that's for sure."

"Okay, okay, shhh. He's about to say something."

"We can't hear them from here, Carlos."

"Then shut up so I can lip read!"

They watched silently as James said something, then blushed uncontrollably.

"He's…he's blushing."

"He's blushing?"

"James is blushing?"

"What did he say?"

"Something stupid. I'm telling you!"

"Okay, now she's confused."

"She just asked him what he meant."

"He's got himself under control. He's under control."

"He's back to his arrogant, ridiculous self."

"Or so it seems. I know him. He's dying inside."

"She's angry again. Oh, she's getting all up in his face."

"He's faltering. He's actually faltering under her stare. Holy crap."

"Val's got it out for him."

"I've never seen him break under a girl's stare. Anyone's stare, for that matter."

"She's…oh, oh wait! She's using her eyebrow! She's doing the eyebrow!"

"What?"

"That's Val's eyebrow look. She does that to entice men."

"Oh my god."

"Is she trying to…?"

"She just moved closer. She is. She is!"

"Maybe she's not all that hopeless."

"Hey, maybe he's not a complete and total idiot. Look!"

"He's going along with it. He's doing his charming smirk!"

"It doesn't work on her, remember?"

"Yeah, he's back."

"He's confused again."

"Oh…oh, she's talking."

"Okay, I know that look. That's her gambling face."

"She's making a deal."

"He's scoffing. Why is he scoffing?"

"Oh, there's her game face."

"And, right on cue, there's _his_ game face."

"Man, this is so intense." Carlos smiled gleefully, turning back around to face the rest of the group.

"They made a bet." Kendall laughed, taking another gulp of his beer.

"It was probably a silly dare. Val can't turn a single one down." Bridget smiled.

"Neither can James. Val's got it bad." Logan laughed.

Sophia squinted her eyes suspiciously, a tiny grin playing on her lips.

"I don't know. Our Val's pretty good."

Logan snickered.

"Better than James?"

Abby rolled her eyes.

"Definitely."

"James never loses anything. I think he can handle a little dare." Carlos said in response, using the same hesitant tone.

"Yeah. Val's got nothing on James. He's going to win whatever they bet on, I can tell you that." Kendall said confidently, Logan and Carlos nodding in approval.

Sophia looked over to Bridget and Abby, who understood immediately and nodded subtly, laughter in their eyes.

"What do you say we make this a little more interesting?"

* * *

><p>Valerie looked up at James, her eyebrow still raised. She was so going to win. He may have looked all confident and mighty, but she could see right through him. She kept staring at him, smirking slightly, and decided to take advantage of the moment.<p>

Without breaking eye contact, Val lifted her beer bottle to her lips and took a sip of it, attempting to make it look all badass, which was clearly not successful as James' grin grew wider. In fact, he seemed to take it as an easy challenge, and still not breaking eye contact, he swiftly reached over to grab the bottle and did the same as she did, except making it look better. He drank out of it purposefully, emphasizing the way his lips touched the exact same part that hers had. It would have looked absolutely ridiculous if, you know, James wasn't _James._

She got angry. They were barely a minute into the dare and she was already losing. She tried to keep herself in control. Slowly, a smile crept to her face. She knew how she could win. She had the one thing James didn't, the one thing that would put her ahead. Not even his looming height and charming good looks could beat this. He would be falling for her in no time.

She smiled seductively.

"James? I haven't been in the water all night. Wanna go for a dip?"

He smiled. He wasn't stupid, but he had to admit, she was good. She had his weak spot figured out in a heartbeat, and she was ready to put his willpower to the test. He could also do the same. These washboard abs certainly came in handy in times like these.

Not that he'd ever had an affection competition with someone before, but hey, there's a first time for everything.

Fortunately for him, he's had plenty of practice with this stuff. Plenty. He knew how to control himself. He certainly wasn't desperate, and although he loved women, he could control himself when he needed to. There was no need for him to be nervous. He could handle this.

Right?

"Sure." He said. Slyly, he zipped down his designer sleeveless beach hoodie and flung it somewhere in the general direction of the party. That may have been a bad idea, but he had something more important to focus on right now.

He watched her falter slightly at the sight of his abs, but she kept in control. In fact, you wouldn't have even noticed her tiny slip up if you blinked. She kept up her little smirk, retaliating wordlessly with some stripping of her own.

Oh, she was good.

She pulled her red tank top off ever so slowly, then reached lower to unbutton her shorts, revealing her bathing suit. With a sly smile, she turned her back towards him and walked towards the dark water.

James let out a soft groan. She was better than he thought she was going to be. Her seducing skills weren't better than his, but there was still something about her…

Oh, crap.

No, no no. He couldn't lose now. Already? No. He couldn't lose at all. He wasn't… was he? No. He refused. Pushing away his thoughts, he focused on her retreating body and followed, walking into the water.

The cool feeling of the water surrounded his legs as he walked in deeper, like a burst of fresh air. James had fallen completely in love with the beach when they first moved to LA, and it had been hard for his band mates to pry James away from the ocean. He loved it. He felt the tickling of the soft sand underneath his feet as he walked slowly to Val, who was waist deep already.

Val looked up at James, who came up to stand beside her.

"It's beautiful, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah. Bridget's grandparents are damn lucky to have this view." She smiled.

"So, this competition. I have a few questions about the rules." He asked, staring straight ahead at the glittering water.

"Uh huh." Val was hesitant. She knew that if anyone would make the rules about this little game, it would be her, but she wasn't too sure about the guidelines or anything yet. She didn't even know why she had made this a competition in the first place.

Okay, she did.

But she wasn't about to let James get what he wanted without putting up a fight. She braced herself for his questions.

"I feel like since, you know, one of us has to fall in love with the other in the next forty eight hours, we should establish some sort of boundaries that can make that possible." James said quickly.

"Yeah, okay. You mean physical boundaries?" she asked bluntly, still staring out at the sea.

James blushed. He hated this. He hated that she could make him do this, especially how she did it so frankly, as if him touching her wasn't a big deal at all.

And it wasn't, to him. At all.

Nope.

"Uh…yeah."

Valerie smiled to herself. It was ridiculous, this little game they were playing. Just this morning, Val's biggest concern was her work life, rushing around, making sure everything was the way it should be. She didn't have time for relationships, and she didn't want one. But here she was, standing in the ocean with a guy she'd just met, trying to seduce him in order to get him to fall in love with her so she could win this sick, twisted game of love.

She was a fool, but she was _so _going to win. Confidence overwhelmed her as she looked over at James, who was watching her carefully, as if she would play something on him any second now. He had his guard up.

Smart guy.

She gave him another smirk. Pushing herself up on her toes in the water, she leaned in slightly into his body.

"James, let's just say that…that this? This is okay."

And with that, she pressed her lips against his.

* * *

><p><strong>Review, please and thank you! :)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello! It's been a while, huh? First off, let me just say that I am so, so incredibly sorry for not updating. I had a busy, crazy month, but that's no excuse. But now that it's summer, I'll be slightly less occupied, which means you won't have to wait six years for an update. :)**

**So this chapter...well, to put it simply, it's just 6,328 words of pure and utter chaos. I swear, I got several headaches while writing this, and I won't be surprised if you're all thoroughly confused by the end! If anyone needs any clearing up, please just let me know and I'll be happy to explain it for you. **

**I had the next few chapters written, but a few minor changes to this chapter forced me to re-write practically everything. You'll see why. :)**

**But anyway, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you all think in a review. :)**

* * *

><p>He couldn't breathe.<p>

Well, literally, he was breathing. Air was being sucked into his lungs rapidly through his nose during the kiss, and he was finding that no matter how deeply he breathed, he still couldn't get his powerful singing lungs full to his highest capacity. But still, he was breathing. Which meant he was still alive. He definitely could feel the water around his waist, and he probably still had a pulse, and stuff.

But she really had just knocked the wind out of him.

He felt all the oxygen in his body leave in a gasp of surprise as she pressed her lips up to his, and his mind fuzzed over. He couldn't think straight, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the shock of Valerie's action, or if he had just died from a heart attack. She was becoming less and less predictable as the minutes went by, and his brain checked out the moment her soft lips had touched hers. He could barely feel her hands reaching up to fondle his hair, fingers digging deep and pushing it back with slight, quiet moans escaping from her lips as the kiss deepened. He could vaguely detect that his hands had moved over to her bare waist, his fingertips lightly grazing the curve of her hips where the ocean water met the air. His curious fingers were playing with the dangling strings hanging off the side of her bikini, and then suddenly, Valerie mumbled his name against his lips.

And that's right about when James lost his last hanging thread of control.

He told himself it was the hormones. He knew, with his incredibly extensive past experience, that he was most turned on when the girl he was with was being pleasured by his every move, and was very obvious about it. He loved it when girls wanted him, needed him, _craved _him. He loved it when they desperately gasped his name between breaths, slowly losing themselves in James. They were like his own personal cheerleaders, and he treasured hearing the lust filled whispers by girls that couldn't help but utter his name, like he was the devil that they couldn't get enough of.

But Valerie, of course, was different. She was completely the opposite. Her breathy gasp of his name wasn't to show him how much she needed him, or wanted him, or craved him. No, of course not. Valerie's gasp was merely a played move. She knew his weaknesses, left and right, and she could take James down right now, if she wanted to. She was doing this to make him weaker, to show him that she didn't need him, that he was simply her toy, and she was teasing him to death. She used it to her advantage. He was losing himself, literally _losing _himself, over her. He didn't understand why. He'd never had a kiss that made him go weak in the knees and made him feel like his airways had been tied off. Who was this Valerie girl? What was she doing to him?

He tried to shift his mind back to reality, when without warning, another gasp of 'James' spilled out from her lips and all last remaining strands of his loosely weaved logic disappeared for good. She was killing him, but he loved it. Her quiet, passion filled gasps were enough to overpower a screaming crowd of fans any day. He could barely fathom any of his surroundings anymore; the feeling of being knee deep in water disappeared, and he felt like he was floating in the warm summer night air. The only thing he was completely aware of was Val, whose swimsuit clad body was now pressed up heatedly, desperately, to his own bare chest, and they clawed at each other, not letting the other forget who they were kissing.

Not that either of them could.

James felt like his head was going to explode. He had lost all capability of coherent thoughts, and he didn't know how long they had been standing there, but he didn't care. He shivered with delight at the adrenaline rushing through his body from the kiss, and all the distant background noises faded away entirely, along with his common sense. He melted into Val, barely being able to stand up. His arrogant thoughts floated away, and he momentarily forgot he was in a competition. All he could feel was the rushing of blood throughout his body and Val's moans vibrating against his tongue and his hands running over her waist and-

She pulled away first.

James looked at her. Her hair was all over the place, and her breathing was uneven and hard, like something had just knocked the complete crap out of her.

James knew how she felt.

Valerie smirked at him through her heavy breaths with an accomplished look on her satisfied face. On instinct, his hand immediately moved to readjust his hair, which he guessed probably looked ridiculous considering Valerie made it a point to piss him off. He realized he was breathing hard, too. He could feel the fuzziness in his head clear up slightly, and oxygen reflooded his system as he gasped in deep breaths of the ocean air. His memory came back to him slowly, and he remembered why the kiss had happened in the first place. It seemed like the physical boundary rules of this weekend had been pretty much established by the intensity of the kiss, and neither of them had to voice it out loud. It was nice to know that they could go as far as they wanted to win, though he had a feeling he wouldn't last long if every time they simply kissed, he nearly died from lack of oxygen. He needed to learn how to control himself better around her; she was dangerously close to breaking him, and he _couldn't _lose. He suddenly didn't know what to do with his hands after she had pulled away, and he ignored the growing tingling feeling in his fingertips from the loss of contact on Val's skin. Staring straight back down at Valerie, who was still pressed close to him, he mirrored her arrogant smirk.

"I've had better." She said surely between breaths, smiling like she had just won the whole damn thing.

James felt his competitive nature creep out once again and take over. His eyebrow shot up and he smiled at her, knowing that he would win this round, no matter how much that kiss had affected him.

"Yeah? I've had worse."

Val's eyes narrowed and she scoffed at him, looking away. James could tell he had bothered her, and he smirked triumphantly. She returned his gaze with dark, hateful eyes.

"You know what? I-" Val's expression suddenly changed as she heard someone who sounded vaguely like Carlos screaming from behind them. Realization took over her features. They had completely forgotten about the beach party. Whipping her head around, she focused her line of vision to the dimly lit beach across the distance. James followed her gaze, and sudden dread washed over him as he realized what she had just realized seconds ago.

"Crap," he muttered under his breath as he craned his neck to see if his friends were looking this way. He desperately hoped that they hadn't witnessed the kiss, because he knew he would be bombarded with questions the moment they found out, and he didn't want to talk about it, because he would probably start getting all weak in the knees again.

Man, this girl had it bad for him.

Apparently Val was thinking the same thing, because she immediately swerved around to face James once more, a panicked expression on her face.

"We can't tell them. We can't tell anyone. Do you know how much hell I'll get for this from my friends? From my parents? I'm already a mess with relationships, and…and _this_…" Val trailed off, not knowing how to express their twisted game in words. Frustrated, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to fix it.

"Just don't say anything, James. Okay?"

"Deal." He nodded fervently, and then held up his hand.

"But wait, what do we tell them? They're bound to ask where we've been for a while, and why we're together, and stuff. And how am I supposed to win this weekend if I can't even seduce you publicly?"

Valerie ignored his arrogant assumption of his supposed victory and squeezed her eyes shut to think.

"Um…well, we can tell them that we're trying to make peace." She suggested weakly.

James scoffed in disbelief.

"Yeah, they're not that stupid. Maybe…maybe we can convince them that we're in love now, or something. Maybe I followed you out here, and then you suddenly realized how undeniably handsome I am and that you couldn't resist me and you threw yourself at me and y-"

"Believe me, James. _No one_ is stupid enough to fall for that." Val retorted. "Except maybe you." She added, smirking.

"Fine. What do you think we should do, then?"

"Well, I think you were onto something before. We could…we could pretend we're in love now. You know. Love at first sight kind of thing. It's summer, we're on a beach, at our best friend's wedding. Wasn't something like this bound to happen?"

"Didn't it already? The dare? The double dare between us?"

"I mean, yeah." Val furrowed her eyebrows, slightly confused at all the different angles of this warped version of a love story.

James shook his head slightly in disbelief at the turn of events of the night before clarifying the situation for the both of them.

"So what you're saying is, we're going to basically pretend that we're in a short summer romance this weekend and convince everybody that we're in love with each other, when really, we'll be secretly battling and I'll be trying to get you to fall in love with me and you'll be trying to get me to fall in love with you and we'll be avoiding falling in love with each other in the process? And being the maid of honor and the best man at our best friend's wedding during this whole thing? And do it all in forty eight hours?"

Val was about to protest that it wasn't going to be that crazy, but just sighed and nodded her head.

It was going to be a long weekend.

* * *

><p>Back at the beach party, the six meddling best friends had begun to banter over the different possibilities that the dare could be. After seeing James and Valerie's intimate kiss, they had all confirmed that it certainly had something to do with their control of emotions, since that seemed to be the most apparent conflict between the lusty couple. Carlos was still convinced it was over some sort of obstacle race that would commence during the wedding ceremony, but he was pretty much alone on that idea.<p>

"Maybe they're betting on who's the better kisser." Bridget suggested weakly, after several minutes of attempts at explaining James and her friend's bizarre behavior.

The group murmured doubtful sentences, before all silently thinking of explanations of their own.

Logan, being the ever so logical one, spoke up next.

"They must have bet on something that is possible for them to both do. I mean, what else could it be? It's Thursday night. They're here until Sunday morning, and then we all leave. What kind of bet could be reached in forty eight hours?"

Carlos rolled his eyes.

"I'm _telling _you guys, they're gonna do something at the wedding ceremony. The moment Bridget walks down the aisle, BAM! I'm telling you! I bet that they have monster trucks involved. And they're going to ride it down and see who gets to the platform first. Or wait, NO! OH! Who HITS THE PRIEST FIRST!"

Laughter died from around them and a few pairs of curious eyes from one of the several tables of elderly folk looked their way, before Carlos shouted a delayed "SORRY, EVERYONE, FOR INTERUPTING, PLEASE RESUME YOUR BEACH ENJOYMENT" in a loud, booming voice. He returned his gaze to his table of the other five friends that each gave him strange looks before continuing their conversation.

"So anyway," Sophia started. "How are we going to ask them? Without letting them know that we're betting on their bet, that is."

Kendall sighed heavily. "Well, we could- oh, look, they're looking over here!"

The six of them turned their heads to look toward the direction of Kendall's gaze.

"Do you think they see us?" Abby asked hesitantly.

"Probably not. There are too many people here, they won't be able to tell who's who in this crowd." Logan said.

Bridget laughed.

"I guess we're just going to have to be discreet about asking them. They obviously are hoping that no one saw that kiss by the look of Val's face right now."

The group mumbled in agreement, before they saw James and Val start walking towards the party at a quick, awkward pace.

"Quick, act casual!" Carlos whisper shouted, and received a glare from Kendall before the six of them started up a fake conversation about the wedding, which went on for a few moments until James and Valerie spotted them and made their way over hesitantly.

As soon as the couple was within a few feet away, Carlos fervently waved them over to their circle.

"Hey, you guys!" Carlos exclaimed with a little bit too much enthusiasm. His hand swung recklessly in the air as he signaled for James and Val to come take a seat where they were, and Logan ducked several times to avoid getting smacked in the face by Carlos. The rest of the group mumbled slightly enthusiastic hi's, and James and Val returned it with awkward hello's and small waves before looking at each other hesitantly and sitting down to close off the circle.

For a moment, no one said a word. Valerie's eyes were cast down, as if she was ashamed, and her fingers played with the hem of her tank top, which was now sporting a slightly dry beer stain. Her shorts were on but unbuttoned, as if she had been distracted when she put them on. James was a bit more put together. He was smiling his charming smile as if nothing could ever go wrong, and his sleeveless jacket hung open and loose on his bare, toned chest. He leaned back on his hands and swept his eyes across his small crows of friends who were watching him closely.

Finally, James spoke up.

"You guys okay? What are you talking about?"

Valerie's eyes snapped up at this, landing on Sophia's expressive face, anxiously awaiting their answer.

Carlos muttered a faint 'monster trucks', but didn't say anything further. Kendall just looked at him strangely before speaking up.

"Oh, just the wedding plans. Dude, where have you and Val been for like the last forty five minutes? We've been looking all over the party for you."

James' smile faltered slightly, and he wearily looked at Val. She widened her eyes and gestured slightly with her head to the group, who were exchanging amused glances among one another while watching the couple. James scratched the back of his neck nervously, while Val continued to widen her eyes even more. His eyebrows shot up and he shot her a stern, scolding look before turning back to Kendall and ending his and Val's silent argument.

"Uh, we were…behind the stage. You know. Just talking." James said, and Valerie shot him a glare that went unnoticed by nobody.

"Yeah, um." Val started. "We were…I was mad and…we were fighting and stuff. You know us." She let out a nervous laugh, but nobody joined her. Another moment of silence passed before Sophia, blunt as ever, sighed and spoke directly to James and Valerie.

"You two are terrible liars. We saw you making out back there in the water, okay?"

The group mumbled excitedly, grinning at the two.

James groaned loudly and leaned back into the sand, covering his eyes with his hands. Valerie's eyes simply widened and she started to shake her head in denial.

"What? No… no we weren't. You guys, we weren't. That wasn't us, really, we were behind the stage, he was showing me the sound equipment and we started to ar-"

"Trust me, Val. We know you better than you know yourself." Abby laughed, shaking her head.

Valerie was about to protest, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she fell back into the sand next to James and grumbled something unintelligible.

The group of friends laughed at their reactions and started to ask questions, which James and Val ignored. Suddenly, James' upper body shot straight up and he looked down at Val.

"Can I tell them now?"

The group fell silent and leaned forward eagerly, waiting to hear whatever James had to say. Valerie nodded a 'yes' slowly, and sat up to face the group with a defeated expression.

James sighed and turned back to the group.

"We're in love."

Bridget and Abby simply widened their eyes in shock at the odd statement. Kendall's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, and he stared straight at James, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. Logan scoffed, but still looked at his friend with concern. Sophia's jaw dropped and her eyebrows shot up, mirroring her exact feelings to what James had just said. And Carlos, of course, began to laugh like a hyena.

Valerie surveyed the reactions of her friends and the boys in front of her before determining that they would have to take it a step further to convince them. She placed her hand on James' shoulder before echoing his words.

"Seriously, you guys. We're in love."

These same words caused a completely different reaction. Carlos laughed even harder, but everyone else suddenly started to spit out half words to form questions of their crazy statement. Abby looked like she was going to have a heart attack from the sudden burst of chaos surrounding her.

"Woah, you guys," James held up his hands in surrender, waiting until Carlos' maniac laughter had subsided into softer giggles to speak again.

"We know, okay? We know what you're thinking. This is crazy. This is abso-freaking-lutely insane. I mean, _me_? Fall in _love? _With _her?_" James pointed at Valerie with his thumb and laughed, receiving a familiar smack on his back. James stopped laughing and cleared his throat before continuing.

"But seriously, guys. I couldn't help it. Val's my girl." He shrugged and flashed a bright smile to Valerie, who returned with a sarcastic one of her own before facing her friends again and clarifying.

"Maybe love is too strong a word-"

"That's how strongly I feel, baby." James interrupted in a low, growling voice, latching onto Val's waist and pulling her closely before she smacked his hands away and muttered a "shut up."

Valerie faced her amused and curious friends again.

"Maybe love is too strong a word here. Perhaps…hmm, let me say…summer lust. Yeah." She nodded, agreeing with herself.

Bridget stared at her with doubt.

"Summer lust? When did that happen? Because if I'm not mistaken, barely an hour ago, you two hated each other. _Hated_ each other."

"Well, you know what they say. Hate, love, it's a fine line." Val laughed nervously again, but this time, Carlos joined her, laughing even harder.

"So what you're saying is you guys…you two, the only two people in the whole wide world who I could've sworn would never fall in love, ever…you two are in love? With each other? That's just…"

Carlos could barely breathe as he doubled over in laughter, cackling like a witch at the strangest thing he's ever heard. James huffed in anger.

"We're serious, Carlos!"

"James, really?" Logan said uncertainly. "It's you we're talking about here. You, the guy who just promised millions of girls on national TV this very morning that they could count on the fact that you wouldn't be in a relationship any time soon."

"You, Val. Even you. The girl who could barely hold a relationship long enough in high school to have a week-a-versary. Come on, you don't really expect us to believe this, do you?" Sophia said.

Valerie glared at her.

"Well it's true, you guys. And besides, don't you have more important things to worry about? Bridget, for goodness sakes, it's your wedding weekend. Don't worry about this. Really." Val dropped her voice in order to sound more serious. "Don't."

Kendall scoffed in disbelief and was about to start on one of his infamous accusing rants, when Logan slapped a hand over his mouth, controlling him. James took this as their cue to leave.

"Well, it's getting late and we have quite the weekend ahead of us. Should I walk you to your room, babe?" he asked, brushing his swimming trunks off and rising up on his knees.

Valerie stood up and glared down at him.

"No thanks, _sweetheart._ I can walk there by myself. I'm a girl, not a toddler." Shooting a goodnight to her friends and a quick wave to the boys, Valerie started her trek across the sand towards the estate grounds.

James scowled after her, annoyed.

"Man, she's a piece of work."

Upon receiving amused glances from his friends and suspicious smirks from the girls, James immediately slapped a dazzling smile on his face.

"But I love her." Shooting a final smile, he got up quickly and ran to catch up with Val, who was storming away from him like the impossible girl she was.

The group stared after the couple and waited until they were out of hearing distance before bursting into laughter, Carlos still being the loudest.

"Wow," Sophia said a few minutes later, nearly wiping away tears.

"So we definitely know they're up to something." Kendall said, his laughter dying and leaving a knowing grin on his face.

Bridget shook her head.

"They're pretending they're in love. Why are they making is so obvious? We all know they're lying."

"Do they want us to think that?" Logan asked.

"Ahh, brain hurting. You're reading too much into this, Logan." Carlos exclaimed, clutching his head desperately.

"Maybe they're betting on who can fall in love with the other first," Abby suggested casually, and resumed sipping her beer. When she put the bottle down and looked back at the unusually quiet group in front of her, they all had their eyes locked on Abby thoughtfully.

"What?" she said, unsure.

"Say that again," Sophia instructed, still staring intently at her best friend.

"Maybe they're betting on who can…fall in love with the other first!" Realization hit Abby like a wave.

"Of course! Why are we so stupid?" Logan smacked his forehead lightly.

"That explains everything! The kiss, the arguing, the pretending…" Kendall pondered thoughtfully.

Bridget nodded in agreement with her fiancé.

"That's totally it. They're betting on if James can fall in love with Val first, or if Val can fall in love with James first."

Sophia nodded fervently. "Because it's the only thing that's impossible for them to both do! They're both trying to overcome the impossible before the other does!"

Carlos shook his head in confusion before holding up his hands and tracing an invisible map in the air in order to clarify his thoughts.

"So, James is trying to fall in love with Val? So _he_ can win? And she's trying to fall in love with him, so that _she _can win?" His fingers made a figure 8 in the air before he let his arms go limp and they fell into his lap dejectedly.

"Why would they do that? James is never gonna win this. He can't fall in love, he can't. It's scientifically impossible." Carlos groaned, receiving a skeptical glare from Logan, before he voiced his own thoughts.

"Carlos is crazy, but he's kind of right. It's not scientifically impossible for James to fall in love, but it's incredibly unlikely. And in forty eight hours? It's not going to happen, for either of them."

"I'm still not understanding why Val would even agree to this. She knows she's not going to be able to win. Fall in love? She doesn't even understand the _concept _of love." Sophia sighed and picked up her beer bottle, finishing off the last sip. Bridget sighed and looked over at her friend, nudging her slightly with her shoulder.

"Hey, Soph. Come on, have a little faith in her. She's not…completely hopeless, really. And besides, James is an incredible attractive guy. He really does have a way with girls. She might win this. He's a charmer." She smiled fondly and Kendall simply chuckled and shook his head.

"But do you not see the way Val gets to him? She crawls under his skin. She's the only person who doesn't fall for his charisma, which throws him off completely, but he loves it. He loves how she's different than anyone else he's ever met. She's all fire, and he's all fire. They're the most destructible fake couple in the world." He laughed.

"That's true. He's drawn to her like no other, and he doesn't even know it. He might fall for her first. He definitely could win this." Logan agreed.

Carlos let out another frustrated groan.

"I'm still not getting this. So… because we bet on James winning, we need James to fall for Val before she falls for him? Aw, crap," Carlos muttered before turning over to Kendall and Logan.

"She's going to crack. It's _James_. Can we change who we're betting on?" He insisted weakly, before receiving a negative nod from Kendall.

"Hey, have some faith in the girl. You saw her. She obviously hates him more than anyone in this world. He irks her, and she's different. She won't break before he does." Kendall smirked.

"She's a girl, Kendall. She's a girl, and he's James. You do the math." Carlos grumbled before looking over to Abby with large, pleading eyes.

"Are you sure you don't wanna switch?"

Abby laughed.

"Don't feel like you've lost this already, Carlos. Remember, Val's a tough girl. She doesn't even believe in love. James doesn't have that much power over her."

Logan sighed.

"So, the bet's still on, right?"

Everyone agreed, excited, because there was no clue as to who would win. Carlos grumbled something and crossed his arms, then looked up to see everyone staring at him with amused expressions, awaiting his answer. He made eye contact with each of them before sighing and giving in, uncrossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

"Fine. The bet's on."

* * *

><p>Valerie ignored James the entire walk to the estate and made her way up the large staircase while he continued to trail after her, calling her name. She had a strange sense of déjà vu, referring to the familiarity of the situation right before they had made their bet, when James was calling after her and she was desperately trying to get rid of him. Finally reaching the door to her room, she whirled around to face James, who had come to stand directly in front of her and a little too close for her comfort.<p>

"Why were you ignoring me?" He asked with a nervous smile. She simply rolled her eyes.

"I didn't want to talk to you. I still don't. Are we done?" She shot him a fake smile before gripping the handle of her door and pushing her back against it.

"Do you think they bought it?" James asked in a low, quiet voice, eyes darting around as to make sure that their friends weren't around, despite just leaving them at the beach a few minutes ago.

Valerie hesitated before answering.

"Well…no, but I think it's a good enough excuse to keep their wandering thoughts occupied. Plus, this means we can do all we need to in public in order to win our bet. You better brace yourself," she smirked, teasingly, which he happily returned.

"You bet I will."

The two stood there for a moment, close enough to hear each other's heartbeats. Sexual tension flowed between them like electricity, and just as James was about to give in and dive forward for a kiss, Valerie pulled on the door handle and backed into the room. James caught himself on the door frame by bringing his hand up on the wood to stop himself from falling before flashing a smile.

"Playing hard to get, huh? You obviously have me figured out." He said with a grin, leaning against the door frame with his sleeveless jacket still unzipped and hanging on his shoulders loosely. Valerie could see how millions of girls around the world simply adored him, and if she was anyone else, she would probably have fallen for him easily. But Val wasn't an easy girl to impress, so she shot back a charming smile of her own.

"Goodnight, James." She sang in a teasing, sultry voice, before shutting the door slowly.

James stood there, frozen. He hadn't moved from the frame of the door, and now he couldn't think. He wasn't lying when he had claimed that she had him all figured out. She knew exactly what to say to make him weak in the knees, and she got to him like no other girl ever had.

The door that was now closed in between them taunted him with each second that passed by. He felt so far away from her, and all he wanted was to go into her bedroom and banter some more. He loved how she argued with him, and how she wasn't afraid. She bit back at whatever he said, and she called him on his many faults, which he never really acknowledged due to his arrogant attitude. He hated her with such an intense, vivid passion that he could barely control it. She blurred all the lines that James had known, and now he wasn't sure about anything. She had encountered a new territory within him, and it was all he could think about now. He couldn't explain the need he had to prove to Val that he was different, that he was real. He couldn't control his restless thoughts about her, no matter how hard he tried. James let out a heavy breath that he didn't even know he was holding before walking back down the hallway and down the stairs, groaning softly to himself in the dark, empty entrance.

He was losing so much more than his mind.

* * *

><p>The party had started to die down, and many of the guests were all starting to head back to the estate after the barbeque. The girls had claimed that they were tired from their flights and all the mind boggling bets and dares that they had faced within the last couple of hours. After saying their goodbyes to the boys and bidding their parents pleasant dreams, Sophia, Abby, and Bridget made their way back to the estate, their minds racing over all that the eventful night had brought them.<p>

Sophia was particularly thinking of ways to help her team win.

"You guys, it's Val. We all know what that means. She's a stubborn girl who's never had a long term relationship and doesn't believe in love. This is impossible. What are we going to do?" She sighed in defeat, her flip flops slapping audibly with each step against the stone pathway they were taking.

Bridget nodded.

"I refuse to lose to Kendall. I love him, of course, but we have a very unhealthy competitive streak that pretty much defines our relationship. We need to win this. How do we do that?"

Abby hummed thoughtfully before speaking.

"Valerie's the one person who refuses to fall in love. We just need to give her a little push, but she'll kill us if we get involved. Which means... we have to hit this from the other end of the table."

"What do you mean?" Sophia questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"We need to get James on our team. Neither of them knows we're betting on them. We need to help him out with getting Val to fall in love with him, without him knowing it."

"How do we do that?" Bridget asked, inhaling a long breath of the night air.

Sophia smiled.

"We make him so ridiculously irresistible, that she can't help but fall for him."

"But you guys, it's Val." Bridget insisted.

"Exactly!" Abby nodded, excited. "We know her. We know what she really likes. We can make him absolutely perfect, she'll be crazy to say no."

"But what about James? He wants to try to fall in love with her in order to win. He won't let us help him to try to get her to fall in love with him." Bridget said, becoming confused with her own words. This situation gave her a headache.

"We'll say we're just doing this because we care about our friend. This is her first relationship, blah, blah, blah. He won't be able to say anything because then he'll have to admit to the dare that they have. And he doesn't know that we know, so he'll have to go along with it." Sophia said, a confident smile plastered on her face as they approached the estate grounds.

"So we just have to make him so irresistible to her, that she has to fall for him, and she'll win, which means we'll win. Perfect." Abby smiled.

It was going to be a fun weekend.

* * *

><p>Kendall, Carlos, and Logan had stayed back after most of the guests had returned back to the estate and the surrounding hotels, in order to clean up some of the mess left on the beach. Soon, they were the only ones left and started to make their way back to the estate to get some rest before a long day tomorrow.<p>

"So, about this bet…" Carlos began, and immediately received two groans from his friends.

"Carlos! Stop freaking out about this! We're not going to lose!" Logan said, frustrated, holding a large, full garbage over his shoulder.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Carlos retorted, crossing his arms to signify a challenge.

"Because you're on my team. And I have a plan." Kendall spoke up, smiling, sporting his own full bag of trash as the three of them trekked along the edge of the sandy beach.

Carlos and Logan both looked over at him curiously, eager to hear what their scheming friend had to say. Kendall cleared his throat, taking on a look of seriousness before launching into his speech.

"Well, we're not going to lose. We're going to make James fall in love with her, and I know exactly how we're going to do it. But we can't hit this head on, because James won't let us get involved. We have to go for the lesser approach." Kendall said deviously.

"Which is…?" Logan prompted.

"Val." Kendall said simply, shrugging. Carlos scoffed.

"Are you kidding, Kendall? Val? That's a terrible idea! She's trying to fall in love with James, why would she ever help us out-"

"No, Carlos, you don't get it. We're using Val. Remember, she's a girl, and James flirts with any female on two legs. He's already into her, but getting him to fall for her is the problem. Which is why all we need to do is make her his perfect girl, and he's like silly putty in her hands. He wins, thus we win, and thus I can be a happily married winner this weekend." Kendall smiled smugly, proud of his efforts.

"You're forgetting one thing, Kendall." Logan shook his head as he stepped over a broken tree branch on the pathway they were on. "She's trying to fall for him, remember? Carlos is right. Why would she help us out with getting him to fall for her?"

Kendall nodded.

"Yeah, but remember, she doesn't know that we know about the dare. Neither of them do. And she won't admit to it, either, so she'll have to help us out. It's going along with the whole 'they're in love' thing. If she doesn't help us, she'll have to admit to the dare, and neither of them will do that. She'll have to go along with it."

Carlos furrowed his eyebrows.

"So we're going to make her a total babe that James can't resist, and then he'll fall completely in love with her, so we'll win and beat the girls?" His confusion faded and excitement took over.

"This is going to be the best weekend ever!"

Kendall laughed.

"Relax, Carlos. We still have a few other things to take care of first." He sighed.

"Like what?"

Kendall rolled his tense shoulders around as the trio stepped over the last row of bushes, finally reaching the wide open front door of the estate, which was still brightly lit as guests bid each other goodnight before retiring for the day.

"Well, I kind of have a big couple of days ahead of me, with me getting married and all. So I was wondering…" He trailed off and looked up with a stern but playful mask on his face directed at Carlos.

Carlos squinted at his friend and suddenly stopped short, arms falling at his sides tiredly as if he was about to get a long lecture.

"Aw, what? You're not going to make me promise something, are you?"

Logan laughed, knowing that his best friend hated being forced into behaving. Carlos had never broken a promise either, so a promise to tone down his reckless attitude for the weekend was sure to spark a bad mood for the usually peppy boy.

Kendall joined Logan's laughter.

"Just one thing."

"What?"

Kendall smiled brightly at his beloved friend before answering, and like he had predicted, was met with a groan of protest.

"No monster trucks at my wedding. Period."

* * *

><p><strong>SEEEEEEEEE? I told you it was crazy. But what isn't with these four boys involved, huh? :) I hope your brains aren't hurting too much to leave a review! It would really make my day.<strong>

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello, my lovely, lovely readers! I just wanted to start of by saying thank you SO SO much for all your support. I've been getting a whole truckload of subscribers, and I can't thank you all enough. It makes my day :)**

**So, for those of you who were confused from the last chapter (I would be too, seriously) I'm hoping that this kind of clears it up. Honestly, this just seems like a filler chapter to me, but I guess if you look closely, it does establish some new relationships, verifies some old relationships, and brings a whole new dynamic to the twisted love story we have going on here. It's very filler-like, but I'll have the next chapter up sooner than you think, so I hope you won't be all too disappointed with this! **

**Let me know what you think in a review. I really, truly LOVE reading them. Don't be shy. :)**

* * *

><p>"Shh! Carlos, get that sock away from her face!"<p>

"I'm just trying to wake her up!"

"You guys, be quiet. Carlos, give me the sock-"

"NO! I'm trying to wake her up, Kendall!"

"You can't yet! We still don't know what we're saying to her-"

"Shh! She's moving around!"

"Great, now she's awake. Now she's going to wonder why we're in here watching her sleep like creepy-stalker-best-men."

"What about me? I'm the groom. It's even creepier that _I'm _in here watching her sleep."

"You guys, shh! She stopped moving!"

"Thank goodness, she's still not awake yet. We have some time."

"Wow, heavy sleeper."

"Okay, what are we going to-"

"Carlos! Give me the sock!"

"NO!"

"Okay, shh. She's moving again."

"Yeah. She's awake now, for real. Good job, Carlos."

"It's not my fault, Logan! You-"

"She's opening her eyes…"

Valerie slowly opened her eyes, but her vision still remained cloudy. She could vaguely see three faces; most likely matching the voices that had woke her up. Her hands reached up to her face on instinct, and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes before looking straight up at the faces once more. Logan, Carlos, and Kendall were hovering over her bed, all with slightly amused expressions, but none of them said a word. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and then her brain finally caught up to the world around her.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her scream caused Kendall to jump back and crash into the bedside table, almost falling to the ground. Valerie quickly scooted up to sit upright in the bed, panting hard, her eyes darting around frantically between the boys in front of her.

"What…wh… what are you," She gasped. Carlos started to laugh at her reaction, receiving a glare from Logan and Kendall, who still hadn't said anything. Valerie eventually caught her breath, and her panic dulled down to a confused anger.

"What were you guys _doing?_"

Logan looked at Kendall, pleading for him to take over. Kendall nodded slightly and cleared his throat.

"We weren't…watching you sleep, Val. Promise. We, uh, we need to talk to you."

Val resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as she folded her arms over her chest.

"And you couldn't wait until I was awake, or, you know, _dressed?_"

Carlos' laughter died down, and he looked embarrassed.

"Do you want us to leave?"

"Well, no, it's okay. But could we make this fast? Kendall, today's your rehearsal dinner. Don't you have more important things to do?"

Kendall laughed.

"Well, this is kind of important."

Valerie nodded, signaling him to continue.

"It's about James."

Valerie felt a gush of air leave her chest. _James._ Of course. Reality hit her, and hit her hard.

What had she _done _last night?

She remembered that she hadn't drunk much beer, so nothing too terrible could have happened. There was James, and she had definitely had her tongue in his mouth, for sure. That she could remember, with very vivid detail. She remembered talking to him, pressing her body against his. She remembered talking to her friends before running back up to her room and closing the door on him. She remembered the feeling of adrenaline pumping through her body, which happens whenever she's about to argue a case, or start a competition for anything, or…

_Or challenge a dare._

"Holy crap," she muttered, her eyes widening, as the full extent of her actions last night really sunk in. The boys watched her reaction to their friend's name, which only confirmed their suspicions that something had certainly gone on between the two last night at the beach party. Valerie seemed to be dazed for a total of seven seconds, before she recomposed herself and put on an exaggerated, loving face.

"Of course. Yeah, James. My boyfriend. Right. Love that guy." She let out a nervous chuckle before looking back up at the boys in front of her.

"What about him?"

Logan merely grinned knowingly at Kendall before turning to Valerie.

"We want to talk to you about your…relationship."

Val simply gazed at the boys, her mouth forming an 'oh', although no voice came out. She continued to open and close her mouth and shape it in various forms, before finally speaking in a hesitant, cautious tone. She didn't really know what to expect from James' friends. Did they know…?

No. They couldn't possibly know anything.

"Uh. Okay."

Carlos seemed to grow incredibly excited as he plopped down comfortably at the foot of Val's bed, clutching a dirty sock in his hand. He slowly turned his gaze up to Logan, who was clearing his throat nervously before smiling calmly and looking directly at Val.

"James…James has been our best friend since we were in kindergarten. We grew up together," Logan stated, gesturing to Kendall and Carlos, who were nodding along, watching Val carefully.

"Ever since we were young, James has been…well, he's always been a very…he's, uh… very…" Logan cleared his throat once more, struggling to get the words out. Carlos sighed and took over.

"He was born with crazy active hormones. Loves girls. Can't get enough." Carlos droned bluntly.

"Ah." Valerie's eyebrows shot up as she nodded, sarcasm dripping in her tone. She wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Logan shot a quick look to Carlos before turning back to Val and continuing.

"Right. So, as you can imagine, this…relationship that you two have, it's…well, it's shocking, really."

Valerie nodded, motioning for him to continue, but Kendall jumped in instead.

"We would never, in a million years, guess that James would ever fall into a committed relationship. He thrives on being…well, a man whore, for a lack of better words."

Logan nodded. "It's not that he's going to treat you like that, Val! It's just…his reputation as a jackass has been validated thoroughly in the past, and this is completely new for him. For us, too."

Carlos nodded in agreement before Kendall spoke up once again.

"So, we want to make this last. We want James to have something good, something real. I have Bridget, and I love her to death. Logan's in a very serious relationship with a girl named Camille. Carlos has been dating Stephanie, a friend of ours, for about a year now. We're all very happy and in love, and we just want that for James, too."

Valerie looked between the boys' faces, a skeptical expression plastered on her face. This was not what she was expecting, at all. Did James tell his friends about the dare after they parted last night? Were they trying to help him win? Valerie tried to decipher the boys' faces. She saw Logan was being extremely cautious, choosing his words carefully as to not say something wrong to Val. Kendall was simply looking amused with the whole situation, looking back and forth between his friends with a brimming excitement. And Carlos, of course, was simply squirming with impatience, glancing eagerly at Val with a sly grin that implied that he knew something she didn't.

Valerie laughed humorlessly.

"So why does that bring you three to my room this early in the morning on the day before your wedding? Just to warn me that James is a jackass, and he hasn't screwed me over yet, but he probably will since our relationship is something that has never happened before?"

Logan's eyes widened with worry.

"No, no! That's not what we're saying at a-"

"Pretty much, yeah." Carlos shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the incredulous stare he received from Logan. Kendall just laughed, and Logan was about to protest, trying to fix the situation that had been ruined, when Carlos continued.

"Unless…" he grinned coyly, looking at Kendall and signaling him to continue. Logan's face swept through several different emotions as his panic died down and was replaced with realization when he finally understood what his tan friend had been doing. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked at Kendall who spoke up.

"Unless we can make sure this lasts for the both of you."

Valerie grew even more confused. She hadn't missed Logan's show of inner conflict, and it was obvious the boys were up to something that had to do with James and Valerie. Did they know about the dare?

"What do you want me to do?" Val asked suspiciously.

"We are going to make you completely irresistible. We know what drives James crazy about girls, because he won't shut up about them, ever. If we make you absolutely perfect, he'll fall for you even more than he already has, and you guys will be together _forever._ You're happy, he's happy, which makes us happy. It's a win-win-win." Kendall shrugged smugly, an all-knowing smirk on his face.

Valerie froze. Were they serious? Their offer was not only helping her win the dare, but that would mean James would _lose. _Would his friends really do that to him? This meant that they obviously didn't know about the dare. Maybe they really did want James to be happy and committed. Valerie couldn't shake off the feeling that there were hidden motives for James' friends too, but she ignored her conscience. Who better to help her win than the enemy's alliances themselves? With the help of Kendall, Carlos, and Logan, Val was without a doubt going to win their dare. James would be falling for her in no time, and she would return to New York on Sunday as a triumphant winner.

She was _so _going to win this. She was going to beat James. She was going to get James to fall in love with her…

And she couldn't wait.

"Yeah, sure. Deal." Valerie nodded confidently and stuck her hand out to shake Kendall's, before moving on to Carlos and Logan. The boys looked pleasantly surprised themselves, but didn't let it show much.

Logan nodded happily.

"Since we're under a time limit, we'll call you and let you know what the first step is. Be ready."

Val smiled at them.

"I will. Now can I get dressed, please?"

The boys jumped up and headed toward the door, calling a goodbye to Val, who waved back.

Logan shut the door firmly, before being bombarded with Carlos' ecstatic questions.

"What's the first step, Logan? What are we going to do? Can you believe she agreed to it? Do you think she knows that we're betting on their da-"

Kendall quieted Carlos with a hand covering his mouth. He listened hard, and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the shower turn on in the room behind him. Val hadn't heard Carlos.

Dragging a muffled Carlos away to the other end of the hallway with Logan following closely behind, Kendall finally released his grip.

"Shh, Carlos!"

"Sorry. But you guys, we're so going to win this! James is going to fall in love with Val so fast; she won't have a chance to fall for him. James is going to achieve the impossible. He'll fall in love and he'll win, which means we'll win!"

Kendall and Logan simple shook their heads and laughed at their friend's excitement. Kendall couldn't deny it any longer.

"Yeah. We've got this one in the bag."

* * *

><p>"This is taking forever." Bridget groaned, her eyes glued to the white bathroom door in front of them.<p>

"Okay, so what are we going to say?" Abby whispered, as she bit on her nail nervously from her position behind the bed.

"I don't know. Maybe we should explain to him how we got into his room before we start with our story, because that might be his initial worry." Sophia said, readjusting herself to crouch behind the edge of the bed beside Abby and Bridget.

Abby started whimpering.

"I don't like sneaking into boy's rooms. This feels so illegal and…dirty."

Bridget giggled softly, nudging Abby's shoulder.

"Hey. Live a little, Abs. Don't you feel _dangerous?_" she hissed lightheartedly, smirking at the horrified expression Abby returned her with.

"That's not even funny! You know how I feel about danger. It's risky, and there are no rules or bound-"

The sound of the shower cutting off alerted the girls, and after a moment of silence, Abby began to panic.

"See what I mean? Now what do we do? We don't even know what to say-"

"Calm down, Abby! It's going to be fi-"

"You guys, _shh!"_

"This is terrible. He's going to walk in and we're standing here, looking like stalker fan girls hiding behind his bed. This is so bad. I should never have let you guys talk me into this. Oh my god oh my go-"

"Abby! Be quiet!"

"What are we going to say?"

"I don't-"

The bathroom door swung open, and a dripping wet James walked out. A thick, white towel was wrapped firmly around his waist, and he clutched another towel, rubbing it to his damp, dark hair. Water droplets rolled off his neck and slid excruciatingly slowly down his toned chest.

The girls abruptly stopped talking the moment the door opened, but it was too late. James spotted them crouching behind the edge of the bed, and he smiled, amused. They rose to their feet slowly, with awkward and apologetic looks on their faces. An uncomfortable silence settled in the room, and the only noise that could be heard was Abby's shattered, panicky breathing and a few children running up and down the halls screaming. James simply smirked at them, waiting for an explanation with a cocky raise of the eyebrow.

"Heeeey, James," Sophia broke the silence, drawing out her words to fill the silent gap as she waved awkwardly.

"What's up?" Bridget echoed in the same tone, chuckling nervously.

James squinted at the girls, his smirk growing deeper as he became suspicious.

"Hey. Um, what are you girls doing in my room, exactly?"

James looked at Abby, who nearly had a heart attack when she realized he saw her admiring his bare chest. James just grinned at her, and she began to sputter.

"Uh, uh, we, uh, we were-"

"We wanted to talk to you, if that's okay." Sophia interjected, making Abby sigh with relief.

James' amused smile widened.

"Now?" He asked simply, looking down at his half naked body before glancing back up at the girl's faces with a calm demeanor.

"Well…yeah. It'll just take a second."

Sophia nodded in assurance, which made James grow even more hesitant. He looked over at Bridget with a careful eye. He had known Bridget for a long time now, and they had grown to become good friends. She was easy going and not at all difficult to read, which is why James found it strange that right then, he couldn't figure out what she and her friends were up to. He tilted his head up slightly and squinted once more at the girls, trying to see if a new angle would help him figure out what was going on.

It didn't.

Sophia had a mask of pure innocence, with a delicate smile gracing her features as she stood confidently in front of the bathroom doorway where James was positioned. Bridget had noticed James watching her closely, so she had donned a neutral expression in order to avoid giving herself away. And Abby, being the non confrontational type that she was, had turned a deep shade of red and was fumbling with her belt loops.

Oh, yeah. There was something going on here.

"Alright. About what?" James asked with a coy smile of his own.

"Val."

_Val. _He should have known.

James laughed and resumed towel drying his damp hair with a casual stance.

"What about her?"

Bridget rolled her eyes.

"This is serious, James. Val's our best friend. We… we need you to do something for us."

James stopped rubbing the towel to his hair and glanced at the girls. Did they know? Val couldn't possibly have told them…

Could she?

"Okay." He said slowly, nodding his head.

Sophia took a large breath before speaking up.

"Val is a very…special girl. She's stubborn, and competitive, and has feminist values so strong that they're enforced by her fist, and you seem to share many qualities, even though she thinks you two are complete opposites."

James scoffed.

"We are. She's nothing like me. We're-"

"You're too similar for your own good. You don't even realize how alike you are, because you both are too hard headed." Bridget shook her head fondly, and Abby giggled behind her.

"Well, anyway, she took a strong dislike to you. Actually, no, she hated you, pretty much. And I'm sure she still does. But this…relationship that you two have going, it's a refreshing change. She's never been in a long term relationship, you know. And from what we've heard, neither have you."

"So, what do you want me to do, exactly?"

Bridget smirked at him, stepping closer.

"We want to make this last. She's our best friend, and she deserves to be happy. She's really flighty and can't stay in a relationship, so we have to make sure she likes you enough to stick around."

Sophia nodded and smiled at him.

"We're going to make you completely irresistible, James Diamond."

James doubled over with laughter.

Sophia rolled her eyes, and Bridget crossed her arms, impatiently tapping her foot to wait until his laughter subsided. It didn't.

"You want to _make_ me _irresistible?_ Seriously?" He said between laughs.

"I mean, a little too late, ladies. Sorry." He smiled up at them before bursting in another fit of laughter.

Sophia rolled her eyes again before snapping her fingers to get his attention.

"Let me rephrase that. We're going to make you completely irresistible _to Val_."

James' laughter stopped short and he stood straight up and looked at Sophia in the eye, an incredulous look on his face.

"That's impossible. Have you _met _your friend? She's the pickiest girl I know. She's the only one who _hasn't _fallen for this." James waved his fingers around his face and flashed a smile, before returning to his frustrated scowl.

Abby cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"James, this is why we need to do this. You may be pretty and charming, but that's not good enough for her. We all know that. You have to let us help you become completely enticing to her, so that she falls in love with you. It's the only way she'll stick around, which will make her happy. We're doing this for her. Please?"

James' mind went into overdrive, and all coherent thoughts got lost in the process. Were they kidding? Was this some kind of joke? They were handing victory over to James on a silver platter, no strings attached. Did they know about the dare? Were they really going against their friend?

Whatever it was, he knew that he could win easily with the help of Val's friends.

He's got a head start.

"Fine. Deal." He smiled, and reached his hand out, which the girls shook with curious gazes.

"Alright, good. We'll let you know when we're going to commence the first step. We'll leave so you can get changed now."

"Sounds good."

The girls said goodbye to James and stepped outside, shutting the door behind them. Walking down quickly to the dining area for breakfast, they squealed among each other. Even Abby had gotten excited about the plan.

"Girls, we are _so _winning this bet." She smiled brightly.

* * *

><p>The large dining hall on the first floor of the estate was packed, full of bustling guests dining on warm, fluffy pancakes and crispy bacon. The smell wafted through the entire home, and Val entered the room cautiously, avoiding a large clump of agents and other famous friends of Kendall's that were gathered around the double door entrance. If Valerie didn't know better, she would have thought this place was a well furnished bed and breakfast establishment. Everyone was sitting around at various spots of the incredibly extended dining table that occupied most of the room, and they all were chirpy and excited for the plans that were set for the rest of the day.<p>

Today, the last few of the guests were flying in, including one very important person of the wedding party. Kendall's younger sister Katie, who hadn't been able to make it the night before due to an ACT exam that was held at her local library in her LA neighborhood, was finally flying in this noon. She had met the bride to be shortly after Kendall had started dating her, and the two hit it off very well. Katie had grown attached to Bridget over the time she had known her, which was a rarity, especially when it involved girls that Kendall went out with. Bridget had grown very fond of the teenager as well, and was excited for her bridesmaid to arrive. She herself had volunteered to go pick her up from the airport at noon, while Kendall would take care of the rest of the guests back at home.

The main event of the day was the rehearsal dinner, as the wedding was tomorrow. Since the afternoon was free for all of the guests, Kendall had arranged several bus routes and taxis to take some of the more willing guests on a tour of the beautiful state they were visiting. Since the wedding had a few hundred guests who were staying at the estate and the surrounding hotels that were nearby, the tour was going to take a good part of the afternoon, which would leave plenty of time for preparation for the rehearsal dinner. Planning this had taken quite a load of effort, but with Logan's help, Kendall was able to pull off the whole thing. Everything was set for the guests; they would depart at noon, tour the nearby cities and small town life, and return at four in order to have plenty of time to rest and get ready before the rehearsal dinner at six.

Valerie spotted Sophia, Bridget, and Abby on one corner of the table, whispering fervently. Curiosity getting the best of her, Val grabbed an empty plate from the edge of the buffet table against the wall and began piling on pancakes with butter before heading over to her friends. Trying her best to hear their whispering before they spotted her, Val slowed her walk down as she approached them, hoping that they would continue talking and she would be able to catch a glimpse of their oh-so-heated topic of discussion. She could barely make out the word "James" before Abby spotted her staring at them, and her eyes widened, sporting a deer-in-headlights expression before tugging on Bridget's sleeve in order to get her attention. When Bridget turned to see where Abby's gaze was, she immediately sat up straight and donned her infamous look of innocence. Sophia simply smiled at her like nothing was wrong.

"Hey, Val. Happy Friday! Come sit with us," she grinned, before picking up a knife and buttering a muffin that had been left abandoned on her plate.

Valerie rolled her eyes. She knew something was up, but she went along with Sophia's nonchalance anyway. It was useless to pry. Sophia was the master at the art of, "avoiding the subject."

Val moved over to the empty chair beside Abby and across from Bridget, sitting down and waving casually at her friends before cutting into her mountain of pancakes. A few minutes of light banter between the girls lightened the mood, and Val had almost forgotten about the suspicious whispering, when suddenly, Bridget's phone began to ring.

Leaning over, Bridget picked it up after seeing Kendall's name pop up on the screen.

"Hey, baby."

The rest of the girls continued to eat as they listened to the one sided conversation between the couple.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. I want to, really! I miss Katie so much! Yeah… Okay, well I could always take a cab, no problem. Mhm… okay… Uh, no, you know what? Let him come with me. I could use the help with her baggage, and anyway, someone's got to keep her in check until she returns under her brother's watchful eyes. Yeah, absolutely…no problem… I'll call him and let him know he's coming with me. Okay… Sounds good. Have fun, I love you."

Bridget hung up and was met by a curious stare from Val.

"Who's coming with you?"

Abby began to cough loudly, and Bridget rolled her eyes before answering.

"James. Um, he's coming with me to the airport to pick Katie up. But you three should, uh, go have fun on the tour today. It's a beautiful city, it really is."

Val was about to respond, when she suddenly saw Bridget giving Sophia and Abby meaningful glares before sliding her chair back and getting up, empty plate in hand.

"I have to go say hey to the family really quick. I'll see you guys later?"

The girls nodded and waved her off, and Val shook her head. What was going on?

Sophia cleared her throat before pushing her chair back as well, dusting her hands.

"Well, I have to go call Aiden and see how things are going back in Seattle. I'll see you guys?" She rose, grabbing her empty plate and glass. Abby nodded, following her actions.

"I should probably go say hi to my parents before we all leave for the tour. Bye, Val."

Sophia and Abby went to discard their dishes in the dirty tray before leaving the dining hall. Val still hadn't said a word.

Yeah, something was up.

* * *

><p>"James, I mean it! On time, okay? Front of the house, 11:30. Sophia, Abby and I will all be waiting for you. Don't you dare be late." Bridget warned fiercely. She had found a secluded hallway in the large estate after leaving the dining area and called James immediately, who was still in his room, taking his time to do his hair. His lazy voice floated over the phone.<p>

"I won't, I won't. Jeez. You're like a frickin' Kendall clone. You know what they say, married people start to sound alike-"

"I'm serious!" Bridget wailed into her phone, nearly hysterical, before glancing around and dropping her voice to a low whisper.

"This is part of the plan, okay? You need to be on time. It's important."

"Ugh, come o-"

"I _mean _it."

James huffed on the other line.

"Fine. 11:30, I'll be there, happy? But please, take _me _seriously when I say that you and Kendall aren't even married yet, and you're already past the Siamese twins' stage. If you two get any more like, it'll scare little children."

"You're hilarious. How _do_ you do it?" Bridget droned.

James smiled.

"It's a gift, really."

"I'll bet. 11:30."

"Yeah, yeah. Got it. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

><p>Val made her way to the room that was occupied by Abby and walked up to the white wooden door, giving it three sharp knocks. She was surprised to hear mumbling and shuffling feet as she waited for the door to open.<p>

"Abs, it's me," Val called.

A muffled 'coming!' came through the door, and Val heard more shuffling before the door finally swung open, revealing a distressed looking Sophia, her hair all over the place. Abby was nowhere in sight.

Val furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hey. Where's Abby? She has my brown belt, and I needed it back just in case I was going to wear my flats for the tour, and-"

"Abby's sick."

"What? Is she okay?" Val moved into the room, pushing lightly past Sophia to knock on the closed bathroom door.

"No, no, she's throwing up like crazy. Must have been all those beers last night, or something."

"She got drunk? I thought-"

"Yeah, no, she did. She's a wild one."

Sophia chuckled nervously, running a hand through her frazzled hair. Val knocked once again and received a fake groan in response from Abby on the other side of the door.

"I'm soooo sickkkkk. I think I'm goinnnngggggg to haaaave toooo skip the tourrrrrrrr."

Val raised an eyebrow at Sophia, who shrugged.

"You guys, I'm not stupid. What's up?"

"Nothing. But I should probably stay here and take care of her." Sophia nodded before reaching over to grab Val's shoulders from behind and steer her towards the door and out into the hallway.

"But you should go enjoy the tour! I've heard it's a beautiful city. Take pictures for us, will ya? Bye, Val, I love you!"

Sophia gave her a bright smiled before slamming the door shut.

Val sighed. What was going on with them?

Oh, well. It looked like she was going on the tour by herself, then.

She began the journey down the opposite hallway, heading to her room to change into more comfortable shoes before the tour started. She turned a corner and walked past a potted plant before something reached out from behind it and grabbed her.

Her reflexes shot into action, and she delivered a swift blow to the stomach of her attacker with her elbow, yelling out a startled but firm battle cry.

The attacker doubled over in pain, landing on the floor at her feet.

Carlos.

"See, man? We told you it wouldn't be funny." Kendall chuckled, and he and Logan rounded the opposite corner to greet Val, who waved back, slightly confused.

"Hey, guys. Um, do I even want to know?" She sighed, gesturing to the boy who was wincing on the floor in front of her.

Logan shook his head in the negative, before clearing his throat and grinning.

"So, we know that you were planning on going on the tour this afternoon. However, it turns out that we can start with our whole…plan-thing today. Do you mind skipping it and coming with us?"

Val was grateful to have a reason to miss the tour. She didn't want to go alone, and she certainly could use the head start that she so desperately needed in order to get James to crack. Surely, she wouldn't mind skipping the tour at all.

Val glanced down at Carlos, who was wheezing noisily, before smiling up at Logan.

"Sounds great. What are we planning to-"

"Awesome! Come with us," Kendall grinned at her before grabbing onto her sleeve and tugging her down the stairs quickly, followed by an excited Logan. They rushed down the stairs and weaved themselves through the large mass of guests, who had all gathered in the front of the estate while waiting for the large buses that had been arranged to pick them up. Several taxis were lined up towards the front, as well, in order to accommodate some more guests.

Kendall's grip on Val tightened as the crowd became even more dense. There were several young toddlers running around, screaming and throwing toys back and forth. Many frazzled parents and couples crowded the front of the estate as well, sporting maps and water bottles, ready for the tour of the city. The majority of the people there were well established elderly folk, and they all wore large sunhats, making it harder to see past the crowd. Finally, they pushed past the last few people and stopped in front of a yellow taxi. Kendall slid in quickly, Val and Logan following closely behind.

They shut the door behind them, immediately muffling the buzz of the crowd of guests, and they all panted, trying to catch their breath.

After a few moments, Val spoke up in confusion.

"Why are we in a taxi? I thought we're not going on the tour."

Kendall breathed in heavily before smiling at her mischievously.

"We're not. You'll see."

After finally being able to breathe normally, he leaned forward and whispered driving instructions to the driver. The cab pulled forward past the large crowd, and the loud chatter died softly behind them, fading away as the cab continued down the road. Val began to observe the surroundings as they cruised, and later engaged in a light conversation with the boys. Suddenly, Logan spoke up.

"Aw, crap."

"What?" Kendall and Val asked simultaneously.

Logan simply shook his head.

"We forgot Carlos."

* * *

><p><strong>So, I just read over that and honestly? Ugh. It wasn't the best.<strong>

**How are you guys liking the whole boy-girl parallel thing? I'm trying to keep a balance, but then it comes off as repetitive, and that's the last thing I want to do. I try to change it up with the different characters and different humor, and such. Is it working? Let me know.**

**Oh, and how are you guys liking the different relationships that each character has with the others? Personally, I adore the Bridget-James friendship. They're so brother-sister, it's adorable. Gah.**

**Thoughts? :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello, readers! I hope you're all having a wonderful week. :) So this chapter... hmm, what do I say about it? It's basically just another large helping of chaos. I tried bringing in more dynamics to the characters, so let me know how you guys like it! I could really use some feedback on my writing. If you could shoot me a quick review and let me know how I'm doing, I will looooove you forever! (And I might just burst into song for you when I read your review! I mean, you'll never know I did, but it's the thought that counts!)**

**Let me know what you think! Enjoy :)**

* * *

><p>James was a very impatient person.<p>

In fact, he was so impatient, that sometimes he threw fits in public places in order to get what he wanted, right then and there.

It usually worked. Kendall, Carlos, and Logan were used to his tantrums, and found it to be better to just give in rather than argue with a cranky, spoiled popstar. Sure, he was pretty immature when it came to not getting what he wants, but come on. He had _needs. _He _wanted _things, and he wanted them _now._

And what he really, really wanted at the moment was for Katie to hurry up and come out of the plane, already.

The problem was that Val's friends weren't used to James' tantrums as much, so they made it harder for him. They had gotten to the airport a while ago, and taking James was like being responsible for a four year old. Whenever he began to complain from waiting for so long, he was abruptly smacked upside the head, which felt vaguely familiar to Val's persistent slapping the night before.

Man, these girls were a handful.

In truth, they had only been waiting a mere fifteen minutes, but James couldn't wait any longer. He began to squirm and walk around in the small waiting area by the baggage claim, where the girls and he were positioned. Sophia had conveniently remembered to bring a baseball cap, and the moment that they stepped into the airport to await Katie's arrival, she had pushed it onto James' head and made him wear his sunglasses again, despite being indoors. Being recognized was James' favorite thing, but it had to be suppressed until the wedding was over in order to avoid giving away the location to the prying paparazzi. James grumbled, but he knew the girls were right. Still, he couldn't _not _attract attention.

He was James Diamond, for crying out loud.

"Why is this taking so long?" He groaned loudly and threw his head back in exhaustion, receiving glares from bystanders nearby.

"Shh! Stop acting like a baby." Bridget scolded him lightly, her eyes on the doors of the arrival area.

"But it's been, like, an hour. This is so dumb. Can't we just-"

"No. According to the website, her flight landed ten minutes ago. She'll be here any minute now, calm down."

James crossed his arms and mumbled a "don't tell me what to do" at Abby before turning away from the door and leaning back against the railing.

A few minutes later, the doors burst open and the next wave of passengers came flooding through, armed with laptop bags and purses. Several of them were greeted by certain people in the crowd of people waiting, and James grew even more impatient.

Finally, a short teenage girl came striding through the doors, a heavy, large purse slung over her shoulder and a giant suitcase trailing behind. Her brown ponytail swung with each step, and upon seeing Bridget and a disguised James, she grinned slyly and quickened her pace. Rushing over, she gave Bridget a warm hug, greeting her enthusiastically. She was quickly introduced to Abby and Sophia, and they all exchanged pleasant banter until James interrupted, clearing his throat obnoxiously.

Katie looked at him slowly, tilting her head to the side with an expectant look on her face. James simply smiled and held out his arms for a hug, but of course, Katie didn't comply.

"Forgot about me, Katie? Ha, what am I saying? Of course you didn't. You and I both kno- _oof."_

Katie had thrust her heavy bag and suitcase into his open arms, hitting his stomach in a solid motion. She flashed a fake smile at him before it dropped from her face, annoyance taking over her features.

"Carry those out to the car for me, would ya? And hurry. We have a lot of work to do."

Katie patted the suitcase against his chest twice, before turning and walking towards the doors of the airport. James rolled his eyes and groaned, following her at a slower pace.

Sophia and Abby looked thoroughly impressed and nodded after the girl, as Bridget smiled fondly.

"Wow, mini-Val or what?" Sophia nodded in approval, a smirk playing at her lips.

"But what did she mean by 'we have a lot of work to do'?" Abby questioned as the three girls began walking behind a frustrated James, who was juggling Katie's heavy bags and complaining loudly.

Bridget smiled and peered at her friends from the corner of her eye.

"I told Katie all about this little mess over the phone before her plane took off this morning. She's totally on our side. She would do anything to see James lose."

"So she's going to help us win?"

"Yup. And when Katie sets her mind to something, well… let's just say that we'll be looking at a big, steaming bowl of victory at the end of the weekend, girls." Bridget sang, quietly enough so that James didn't hear.

Sophia grinned at Katie, who was barking orders to James. She nodded, more so in disbelief than approval this time.

"I like her already."

* * *

><p>"No, no. The fabric's all wrong. Change into the next one."<p>

"I like the fabric, though! It reminds me of a bunny."

"Bunnies aren't a turn on for James… well, unless it's Halloween."

Kendall and Carlos muttered in agreement to Logan's comment, before turning their eyes back to Val, who was scowling at them fiercely. After realizing that Carlos had been left in pain and abandoned on the floor of the estate's upper hallway, the trio had turned back and retrieved him, dragging him into the cab before heading off once more. Carlos, who was upset beyond belief at being left out even for a moment, had made them all take him to the local candy shop. After loading up on sugar coated watermelon gummies, they returned to the cab, where Kendall gave instructions to the driver and led them to a popular women's apparel store.

According to the boys, Val would have to win James' heart from the surface before digging deeper. The rehearsal dinner did not have planned attire for the wedding party, so they took advantage of the opportunity to find something for Valerie to wear that would make James weak in the knees.

This was exactly the type of stuff Valerie had always been against, but for the sake of winning, she had pushed her cynical, feminist views away. She had to break James before he broke her, and besides, wasn't James the exception to everything?

She hated how her mind had completely wrapped around James the second that she had been reminded of him this morning. Her work life had been forgotten, and she had a new focus to concentrate on, a new goal to be reached. Manipulating James' feelings along with her own certainly was a dangerous game, but Val knew that they both would do anything to win. Even if it had come down to this, she would do it.

She didn't know why exactly she was so determined to win this little twisted game of theirs. She had always been driven and competitive, but not to the point where she was willing to ignore her dignity in order to win a boy's heart. She didn't know why James got to her so much. Val told herself it was just her competitive edge kicking in on overdrive, but even she couldn't ignore the burning feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hated him, she really did. He was everything that she despised in a person and despite not knowing each other for a full twenty four hours yet, she was convinced that if she could murder anyone in the world and get away with it, it would be him. He got under her skin, and she couldn't stand it.

Still, she couldn't deny that there must have been more of a reason that she wanted to win his heart so badly.

Hormones certainly played a factor here. No one could deny that James was most possibly the most gorgeous human being to ever walk the planet, and even stone cold Valerie wasn't immune to his good looks. She could certainly match up to him in charm and wit, but she could hardly compete in the appearance department. She was convinced that she wouldn't be able to win him over, considering the type of girls he usually went out with, but Kendall, Logan, and Carlos thought otherwise. They had confidence in her, and they knew how James worked when a pretty girl was placed in front of them. She would win him over in a heartbeat.

Luckily, the store that they had chosen to dress Valerie up wasn't crowded at all, and the boys, who were donned in hats and sunglasses, weren't recognized. They had made their way around the store, grabbing anything and everything that was decent enough for a wedding rehearsal dinner, and sexy enough for seduction. After recollecting with arms full of dresses, the boys had ushered Val into the dressing room and positioned themselves on the couch in front of the door.

Val had already tried on at least fifteen dresses, and to say that she was exhausted was an understatement. The boys were…well, they were boys, and the dresses that they picked up didn't exactly match the criteria that they had set for Val. All of Logan's picks had been appropriate to the point where she resembled an Amish grandmother, and all of Kendall's picks had been the complete opposite, leaning towards stripper-esque dresses and strapless numbers that barely covered anything at all. Both boys had protested Valerie's skeptical looks, Logan claiming that he wanted her to still be classy, and Kendall arguing that dirty was the only way to win James over. Carlos, on the contrary, had apparently made it his own personal goal to pick out the most eccentric and least popular dresses in the store, and had come back with his arms full of strange animal fur dresses and hideous designs that could only be appreciated by Carlos himself.

For example, the dress that Val currently had on was made out of rabbit fur, which not only was itchy beyond belief, but looked absolutely horrendous.

"I like it," Carlos grumbled as he stuffed another gummy watermelon in his mouth before continuing.

"You guys just don't have a taste for women's clothing."

"Carlos, do you not see what I'm wearing?"

"It looks great! And it's so soft! Believe me; I know what I'm talking about. I have a great sense of style. Please wear it, Val! Please? You punched me in the stomach and left me on the floor, the least you could do is-"

"Carlos, I refuse to wear this." Valerie told him as she spun around in front of the mirror. With a sigh, she trudged back to the massive pile of dresses that took up half of the couch. Digging through, she discarded a long, puke green, full sleeved dress (Logan's choice, she was guessing) and pushed aside a black netted tube dress with a plunging neckline (Kendall's pick, most likely). Val was just about to spin around and throw her shoe at Carlos for picking up another dark brown fur trenchcoat dress, when a rich, bright red color popped out at her among the grays, greens, and blacks of the pile. She pulled it out from the bottom and stared at it.

Apparently, the boys had taken notice of it too, and they crowded around Val, murmuring approval.

"It's decent enough." Logan stated.

"It's sexy enough." Kendall nodded.

Val's eyebrows furrowed as she looked between Logan and Kendall.

"Who picked it out?"

Apparently, that question didn't need to be asked, because they heard a throat clear behind them. Turning around, Kendall, Logan, and Val all faced a smug Carlos with a sugary lipped smirk.

"Told you I have a great sense of style." He proclaimed as he turned back around and headed to the couch, humming a tune and stuffing yet another watermelon gummy in his mouth.

* * *

><p>"Okay, first things first- wipe that grin off your face, James."<p>

James' smirk simply deepened at Katie's command, and he leaned back on his chair, folding his arms behind his head. Katie reached forward, threatening to hit him with the back of her hand, which caused James to drop his smile and sit straight up. Sophia, who stood behind Katie, laughed in approval.

The girls and James had driven back to the estate with Katie's luggage in tow, and after half an hour of greeting her parents and settling in, they finally got an opportunity to gather in Abby's bedroom. The large property was mostly vacant, due to the guests being out and about for the tour of the nearby city. Soon afterwards, Kendall and Katie's parents took off for the rehearsal dinner venue, in order to make last minute adjustments and keep the caterer on schedule before the guests arrived in a few hours. The house was relatively empty and quiet, but the girls had ushered James into Abby's room and shut and locked the door firmly, taking extra caution that their plan would not be foiled.

"So, what's going on here, exactly?" James asked nervously, darting his eyes back and forth between the four girls in the room.

Bridget smiled and stepped forward.

"James, your job is to win Val's heart-"

James scoffed.

"I've already won her heart, remember? We're dati- _ow-_ Katie!"

"Listen to her, you idiot."

"As I was saying," Bridget narrowed her eyes at James, who recoiled back with a sour expression, "You need to win Val's heart and keep it on lock. To do this, you need to break her. You're the only one who can do this, because, well…James, you get to her like no one else ever as. And let's face it; she's the only girl on this whole entire planet who _hasn't _fallen for your charming smile."

"Besides me," Katie piped in, leaning over the bed to catch everyone's attention with her announcement. James simply chuckled at this.

"Oh, please. Katie, you know you have a cr- _ow! _Jeez, seriously, when did you learn to hit so hard?" James whimpered at the teenager, rubbing his upper arm tenderly.

Bridget giggled before continuing.

"Katie's right. She's a few years younger, but the similarities between her and Val are uncanny. They both love hitting you."

Katie grinned proudly, nodding.

"This is where I come in, James."

The boy squinted at Katie with a weary expression before edging off the bed away from her.

"Please don't hit me again."

"I won't." she smirked, folding her arms as if signifying a challenge. James was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but Katie spoke again before he could.

"If you do exactly as we say."

He rolled his eyes.

"What could you guys possibly make me do?"

Katie sighed, looking over to the rest of the girls, who were nodding in encouragement.

"Flirt with me."

"Wh.. What? Katie-"

"I know. But you need to learn how to talk to a girl like me if you ever want to get Val to fall in love with you."

"You mean, I have to learn how to talk to a stone-cold, manipulative, controlling, psychotic, selfish, competi-"

"Okay, shut up before I punch you again."

"Sorry."

Abby and Sophia shared a look before Sophia trudged over to James' position on the bed. Sitting herself down, she sighed dramatically before looking at the pretty boy with wide eyes.

"You have to do this, James. You're the only person who can break Val. If you can just…flirt with Katie long enough where she doesn't have an irrepressible need to smash your face," James squealed like a girl and his hands instantly moved up to cover his cheeks, "we'll call it success. Okay? Just try it."

James' hands slowly made their way back down to his sides, and he slouched in defeat. He surely had no problem flirting with anything on two legs, but Katie was a different story. She was his best friend's little sister, for crying out loud. He had known Katie her whole life, and she had made too big of a "little sister" impact on him to ever even consider-

Wait. What was he doing?

Katie was scarily similar to Val. This was his ticket to victory.

All he had to do was get Katie with his words. This was nearly as impossible as breaking Val, but it could be done. He knew how to work the ropes with Katie better than Val, which made it a bit easier for him. He just had to get her to fall for his words.

He could do that. Right?

"Okay, let's do it."

All four girls broke out into smiles and Katie settled onto the bed, making herself comfortable. She faced James cautiously and cringed in disgust at the flirty smirk James was flashing her.

"Ugh, maybe _I'm _the one who doesn't want to try this," Katie groaned, but Bridget just shushed her, and her and the other two girls hung back, watching the two carefully.

"Okay…James, you're at a party. You see this girl right here, and you want to get to know her. Flirt, man, flirt! Flirt like you've never flirted before! GO!" Abby cried, waving an imaginary flag in the air with fervent movements.

A moment of silence passed before James smiled again, this time more cockily, if that was even possible.

"Hey. I'm James. I'm in a band."

Katie rolled her eyes at his opening line before thinking about what she would say. From what she had heard about Val and the whole dare-bet-love mess over the phone from Bridget, she was fairly sure that she wouldn't have to put up much of an act in order to pull off Valerie. Everything that had played out through Bridget's eyes had seemed to describe the girl who had a very similar personality to Katie, and she had laughed several times at the thought that she had never met another girl with quite the same outlook as her. Meeting Val would be very interesting, and she was looking forward to it.

Putting on her default mask of indifference, she stared right at him.

"Awesome. Go away."

James rolled his eyes. He had _so _seen that coming.

"Won't you at least tell me your name?"

"You don't need to know my name."

"Well, why not? I told you mine."

Katie laughed. This was easier than she thought.

"I didn't need to know yours, either. We're never going to talk again in our whole lives. Why bother?"

James smirked.

"Well, we can always change that. I'm James, and you ar-"

"Not interested."

"TIME OUT!" James yelled, getting up off the bed and waving his arms around frantically. Katie looked at him with a confused expression, not seeing why there needed to stop. Sophia's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"What is it?"

James pulled a hand through his hair, struggling to get the words out.

"I-she-how can she not know who I am? I'm James Diamond. _James Diamond. _Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture here?" he gestured to Katie and himself before chuckling humorlessly. Bridget simply sighed from her position behind the bed.

"What's your point?"

"My point is that this would never happen. This is totally unrealistic. Katie's acting like she doesn't even know who I am! That's impossible!"

A silence settled in the room after James' short rant, and Sophia stood up and smirked at him.

"Val didn't know who you were."

James' jaw hung open in disbelief, and he looked offended to the point where he could be mistaken for a teenage girl who had just gotten informed that she looked fat in her outfit. Sophia shrugged.

"I'm not kidding. Of course, now she knows who you are, but the whole popstar thing? Yeah, she could care less."

He recovered in a few seconds and sighed deeply, groaning into his hands.

"That girl is…impossible. She's literally broken every single rule-I can't-ngphh."

His statements came out muffled as he moaned them into his hands, and after grumbling a few more incoherent thoughts, he straightened up and rolled his shoulders back.

"Okay, let's just start over. I have to do this."

Bridget smiled.

"Good. Just be straightforward, James. But not…too straightforward." Bridget bit her lip, regretting her advice already as James nodded to himself, repeating her words. She could see his brain formulating a plan, and he sprouted a look of determination on his face.

Katie smiled and patted the comforter, gesturing to James to sit back down. He resumed his position, took a few breaths, and then looked back up at her, his dazzling smile back once more.

"Hi, I'm James, and I'm really horny. Would you like to- _ow-OW! _Dammit, Katie!"

* * *

><p>Val's eyes nearly popped out of her head, and she could see very similar expressions plastered on Kendall's and Logan's faces from the reflection of the mirror. Carlos was dancing in the corner and whooping with delight, which prompted a sales lady to walk by and ask them to 'please keep it down.'<p>

It shouldn't have been a big deal, but it was.

The red dress was perfect. At first, she had just been astonished that any of the boys had picked up something that fell into their set guidelines, let alone it being _Carlos' _pick. After trying it on, she figured that she never really gave the boy much credit. He certainly had strange taste, but this killer dress had somehow managed to find him, and it was sure a keeper.

Unlike Carlos' other choices, this dress was not made out of some sort of animal. Instead, it was a thin, stretchy fabric that was soft enough to be casual, but still gave the impression of class. The bright red dress was fitted, and it clung to Val's every curve, ribbing slightly at her waist as it stretched down to right above her knee. The top part of it tapered off cleanly over her right shoulder, leaving her left shoulder's light tan exposed. Small red flowers ruffled at the edge of the cutoff, covering her right shoulder delicately. The bright color struck well against the color of her hair as well as her skin tone, and she felt like she had just stepped into a movie. Val didn't expect it to look this good, but she wasn't complaining. According to the looks of approval she was getting from the boys right now, she knew that they had found the dress that she would be wearing on her quest to get James to crack.

Spinning away from the mirror, she looked at the boys with hopeful eyes.

"So, what do you think James' reaction will be to this one?"

Kendall simply burst into a smile, and Logan and Carlos high fived each other.

That was all she needed.

Val changed back into her street clothes, being careful to not stretch the fitted dress, and they headed to the front counter, where they were greeted by the same crabby old sales lady that had quieted their celebration a few minutes ago. After quickly paying and hopping in the cab, they were on their way back to the estate, just in time to run into all the guests arriving from the tour.

Kendall leaned toward her slightly as they got closer to the estate doors among the crowd.

"Hide the dress; go up to your room, we'll meet you there soon." He whispered.

Val nodded as she slid the shopping bag under her arm, and she and the boys split off in different directions. Val ran off to her room, and the boys made their way down an empty hallway that was slowly filling up with guests, satisfied from a day of touring and ready to freshen up for the evening.

"Hurry!" Logan hissed at Kendall, who nodded back at him before whipping out his cell phone and pressing speed dial number 6.

The phone rang twice before the person on the other line answered with a "what?"

"Katie! How nice to hear your voice, baby sister. How was your flight?"

"Fine."

"Great. Where are you?"

"I'm, um…in my room."

"Settled in and all?"

"Yup."

"Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Alright, what do you want?"

"I need a favor. Meet me at the stairwell in five minutes, and bring your genius, scheming brain, alright?"

"Alright, fine." Katie grumbled, but right before Kendall hung up, another voice floated through the phone.

"What do the guys need your genius, scheming brain fo-"

Kendall froze.

It was Bridget. He would recognize his fiancé's voice anywhere.

Everything pulled together. Katie was with Bridget, Abby, and Sophia. They were most likely using her to win the bet against the boys. In fact, they probably were helping James out that very moment, in the same way that him, Carlos, and Logan had been helping Val out.

They were all playing the game, and they were playing it good.

Carlos and Logan looked at Kendall expectantly.

"Well? Is Katie going to help us?"

"Oh, she's going to help us." Kendall said, and Carlos whooped loudly, until he was interrupted by Kendall's voice again.

"She's also helping the girls."

Logan's eyes popped wide in disbelief, and Carlos just shook his head.

"What are we going to do?"

"Well, we're in more danger than we thought. Katie's powerful, and the girls know that and they're using that to their advantage. We have to do the same. We have to take all the help we can get out of her, and hope that things play out in our favor."

Logan groaned.

"This is getting complicated."

Kendall shook his head.

"No negative thoughts, Logie. Now we know what the girls are up to. We'll get them, don't you worry."

* * *

><p>"Good! But this time, James, don't talk about yourself first. Let her get the ball rolling before you go on your boasting parade, okay?"<p>

James grumbled an agreement towards Bridget before flopping backwards on the bed. They had been rehearsing potential conversations of the night for at least two hours now, and to say James was exhausted was an understatement. It was nearly impossible for him to suppress his hormones, and that's exactly what the girls were trying to get him to do. His ego got in the way too much, and it literally pained him to not talk about himself or sex for such long periods of time.

Katie hadn't been holding up too well, either. She had lost her temper several times when James would let his tongue slip and let out some inappropriate or self absorbed thought, and…well, to put it shortly, James had a pretty beaten up arm by now.

Suddenly, noises floated up from downstairs. Katie guessed that the guests had returned from their tour, and it sounded like many people were now flooding the hallways and returning to their rooms to get ready for the evening. Bridget must have realized this, and she was about to speak up, but Katie's phone began blaring before she could.

Katie picked it up and rolled her eyes upon looking at the caller id. She was excited for her brother's big wedding, but she didn't like getting too mushy with him. Kendall was getting mushier by the second, and _someone _in their family had to be sane.

Putting on a bored face, she answered her phone in annoyance.

"What?"

Kendall's voice floated over the phone, and Bridget immediately perked up at hearing her fiancé.

"Katie! How nice to hear your voice, baby sister. How was your flight?"

"Fine." Katie breathed.

"Great. Where are you?"

The girls and James all looked at Katie with panicky expressions, Abby in particular. Katie nodded to them with an assuring look.

"I'm, um…in my room."

"Settled in and all?"

Katie knew her brother too well. He was leading up to something, and she could already see where this conversation was going.

"Yup." She answered plainly, hoping that she wouldn't be dragged into the other end of this chaotic mess.

"Have I told you how much I love you?"

And there it was.

"Alright, what do you want?" She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I need a favor. Meet me at the stairwell in five minutes, and bring your genius, scheming brain, alright?"

Katie groaned and murmured an 'alright, fine' into the phone. She barely hung up before Bridget pounced on her, raising her eyebrows in doubt.

"What do the guys need your genius, scheming brain for?"

Abby suddenly gasped, everything hitting her at once. Katie and James looked at the three girls, who seemed to be having a silent conversation with secret looks of panic and anger. Sophia cast a wary eye at Bridget, and they nodded in agreement, signaling to Abby that their suspicions were right. The boys were using Katie to get ahead, which meant that they were probably on the same page as the girls, and Val was being trained by them just like they were training James.

Katie and James remained clueless during this silent conversation, and after a few moments, Katie stood up from the bed.

"Yeah, okay, I'm going to go see what he wants. Meet you guys at the limo in a couple of hours?"

The girls nodded and James waved with one short motion. Katie left the room, shutting the door firmly behind her, before making her way to the stairs, where she was greeted by an overzealous Carlos.

"Carlos…can't-breathe-" Katie gasped, attempting to wiggle out of the short boy's grasp. After greeting Logan warmly and finally her big brother, Kendall gestured to the group to follow him.

They walked to a secluded part of the hallway, and then Logan abruptly turned around to face Katie and whispered quietly.

"Katie, we need your help. You see, there's this bet…"

Katie nodded along with the story, even though she already knew it from Bridget's point of view. She put a look of apathy on and rolled her eyes at the appropriate parts as the story got even crazier, but on the inside, she was having a heart attack.

She couldn't refuse to help the guys. Kendall was her brother, and it was his wedding, for crying out loud. Carlos and Logan had always been brothers to her, and she couldn't turn down Carlos' puppy eyes, no matter how hard she tried. She was stuck helping both the boys and the girls; there was no way she could turn down any of them. This was getting more twisted by the second, but Katie agreed to stay relatively neutral as she helped both teams silently compete over possibly the most important weekend of her brother's and his fiancé's life.

After Logan had finished explaining the story in detail (with unnecessary commentary by Carlos), Katie shook hands with the boys. They walked down the hallway and stopped in front of Val's closed door. Kendall knocked, and a few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a pretty girl in a red dress, looking frazzled more so than a seductress, as the dress implied.

The girl hissed a "Hey! Come in! Hurry!" before ushering the boys and Katie into the room, and shutting the door quickly behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned against the door, and smiled down at Katie.

Kendall smirked.

"Katie, this is Val. Val, this is Katie. She's going to be helping you to win James over."

Val smirked at Katie, who returned the look. There was a mutual understanding between them already, and most of it revolved around a common, sick need of seeing James break.

"Will you help me do my hair and stuff, Katie? What do you think will get James to fall completely in love with me?" Val asked her. The question was innocent enough, but the hidden meaning was too obvious for Katie to ignore.

Suddenly, the reality of the situation hit Katie like a ton of bricks.

There was something else going on here, something that ran deeper than a bet on who can fall in love first, who can do the impossible first. There was another layer to all of this, and Katie was determined to figure it out, although she wasn't too sure she was going to make it through this weekend with already so much to juggle.

In fact, she probably wasn't even going to make it through the awkward limo ride.

There were two limos reserved strictly for the wedding party, and it had been predetermined that the families of Kendall and Bridget would ride in one, and the maids of honor, best men, groomsmen, bridesmaids, and Katie, of course, would ride in the other. Katie would be sitting among two secret teams that were not supposed to know that the other team was using her as well, and the two people who weren't supposed to know that anyone was betting on them in the first place. And of course, the seating arrangements that were strictly for the wedding party at the rehearsal dinner weren't going to help much, either.

Not to mention that James and Val would be working their butts off the whole time, trying to battle their own emotions and hormones at their best friend's wedding rehearsal.

It was going to be an interesting evening.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: How was it? How did you guys like Katie? Honestly, I'm so excited about her. She's so much fun to write, and she's going to be super important to the rest of the story too, in case you couldn't tell. Do you think the plot's a bit too slow moving? Because I do, but I promise it's going to pick up in the next chapter. **

**Last question: Who's your favorite OC? -Bangs head into door- I've gotten a few comments about the OC's I wrote up, but I want to know if you guys think I'm doing a good job with them or not? I hope they're not coming off as parallels to the guys. That's the last thing I want to do. :/**

**Okay, enough of my rambling. If you're liking the craziness, be on the lookout for the next chapter! It's filled to the brim with it :) REVIEW! :) :) :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, so I'm a disaster about updating this thing. I was trying to keep it consistent and weekly, but obviously that's not happening, so this is me apologizing in advance. I hope you still have enough interest to stick around, though. :)**

**SO THIS CHAPTER! It's not one of my favorites, even though certain parts of it were really fun to write. Let me know what you think. I've been reading (and writing!) a lot of BTR angst lately, centered around James, of course, so this chapter was slightly influenced in that direction. Hopefully it's still fun and light (as this story is intended to be) and you guys like it!**

** Let me know what you guys think, okay? :)**

**ALSO! HUUUUGE SHOUT-OUT to all my fellow review-whores! You know who you are ;) You guys make it a point to review each and every chapter, regardless, and give me such valuable feedback that I can't thank you enough for. It really helps me out, and I love going and reading your stories to get a better perspective of what you like in a fic. THIS CHAPTER IS FOR YOU! :) Thank you sososososososososo much for your time. It really means a lot to know that you're always sticking around for more :) I LOVE YOU GUYS!**

**And thank you ALL OF MY READERS, for taking the time to read! You are fantastic, I love you all.**

**I'm done babbling, on with the story!**

* * *

><p>Katie gently curled the last strand of Val's hair, and Carlos whooped in excitement.<p>

She was officially ready.

Kendall spun her around and checked last minute details, removing the tag of the dress and brushing his fingers through a tangled chunk of hair in the back. Logan leaned down to help Val into her heels. They all stepped back to admire their work, nodding in approval.

"I look like a whore."

Val wasn't too happy with the makeup, perfume, and extravagant hair that the boys had chosen for her, and her many attempts at rubbing her face with a washcloth had not gone unnoticed. The boys had kept a close watch on her as Katie finished lightly curling her hair, and the complete effect was a bit overwhelming.

According to the boys, she looked classy but still seductive enough to capture James' attention.

According to Val, however, she just looked ridiculous.

Katie and the boys wouldn't let her alter any of their decisions, however, so she was stuck the way she currently looked. Katie had given her a crash course in James' weaknesses, and Val was reciting them over and over in her head as she adjusted her dress and grabbed her purse from the bed.

"You don't look like a whore. You look…dignified."

Val scoffed at Logan.

"Dignified. Right."

"Okay, well, whatever. You look good. That's all that matters."

Kendall suddenly caught sight of the clock on Val's bedside table.

"You guys, we- we have to go get ready! The limo leaves in twenty minutes!" Kendall and the boys ran out of the door, shouting a 'see you soon!' to Val and Katie.

Val acknowledged their leave and whirled back to the mirror, sighing in disgust at her reflection. Katie smirked behind her, folding her arms and walking closer.

"You know, you don't look that slutty. You actually look pretty decent. Elegant, in a sultry kind of way, you know?"

Val turned around to look at Katie with a helpless expression.

"You think so?"

"Yeah. James is going to be like putty in your hands, Val."

"I can only hope," she mumbled, adjusting her hair in the mirror.

A moment of comfortable silence passed. Val continued to move loose curls around, trying to make it seem more natural, and hummed a soft tune to herself. She looked into the mirror and saw Katie's scrutinizing stare in the reflection.

"What?" she asked.

"Uh, nothing. Well… it's just- okay, this is weird for me to bring up- I'm just going to come out with it, okay?"

Val nodded, her eyes wide in curiosity as she watched Katie from the mirror.

Katie took in a deep breath before letting out her words in a rush.

"I know that there's something else going on here, with you and James. And I don't know what it is, but this is confusing and twisted and I'm just a teenager and I can only handle so many warped versions of a love story so just please- just don't do anything crazy, okay? Love is… love is a dangerous game, believe me, and I've only known you for an hour but I like you enough to tell you that I really don't want this to end badly for either of you and the way this is going – I just – please, whatever game you're playing here, just… just watch out. You never know what will happen, okay? Love is… fragile. And for you and James, emotions may be a part of your hearts that you haven't fully tapped into yet, and I'm the last person to give you advice on this, but it's not a good idea to play with your emotions. I may not know the whole story here, but I will find out, and you guys are going to be sorry that you're messing with your hearts-"

"Katie! I- uh."

Val had frozen, casting her eyes downwards to avoid Katie's reflection in the mirror. She didn't move or say anything during Katie's rant, but then the younger girl had began to talk about emotions and feelings and Val couldn't take it anymore.

Katie, on the other hand, became nervous. She knew her outburst had hit a nerve with Val, and she must have been dead on about the second layer to this story, because Val had become increasingly uncomfortable as Katie had went on. She had thought it would feel better to get her thoughts out in the open, but she wasn't so sure now with the look Valerie had plastered to her face.

"You… you're right."

Okay, Katie surely wasn't expecting _that. _

"I am?"

Val sighed, running fingers through her now wavy hair. Gesturing to the bed, she sat down at the edge, and Katie followed her lead.

"Look-" she began, but before she could continue, she heard a dull chatter coming from the hallway, growing louder as a group of guests, all made up and ready, headed down the staircase to wait for the taxis.

Katie had turned towards the door as well at the noise, and as soon as it had died out, she turned back to face Val with an anxious expression. Val sensed her discomfort and put on a reassuring smile.

"We should probably get going."

Katie's jaw dropped. Was she trying to avoid the whole situation? Was she angry?

"But-" Katie began to protest.

"I'm not mad at you, Katie." Val spoke gently to the younger girl. "I just… you're really smart, you know that?"

Katie smirked and let out a little giggle.

"I've been told."

"Well, it's true. You're very intuitive. You're right…about all of it, about everything you said. And I… I wish I could tell you everything, but I can't, so…just trust me when I say that you have nothing to worry about."

Katie's eyebrows furrowed in question, and Val looked down, trying to figure out how to word what she had meant. After a few moments, she spoke slowly, trying not to give anything away, but letting Katie know that she had been dead on at the same time.

"You don't need to worry about the emotions and stuff. We both have it under control, really. No one is falling for anyone here." Val laughed at the thought, rubbing Katie's back in comfort.

"You have nothing to worry about."

* * *

><p>"We've got a situation."<p>

James felt like he was choking. He couldn't breathe properly, and his vision was swaying slightly out of his control. His stomach had been filled with the most obnoxious swarm of butterflies, and it felt like each and every one of them was on fire and purposely bouncing around in his stomach at a rapid rate.

Was he dying?

It sure felt like it.

He hated this feeling; he wasn't used it. It had only happened to him twice in his life, and when it did, he never really knew what to do about it. It was just _there, _and he was forced to suck it up or shake it off. Of course, it wasn't as easy as it had been before.

The first time the butterflies had ever made their appearance was in second grade, at his very first Pee Wee Hockey tournament back in Minnesota. James could remember stepping into the rink, the cold air washing over his face as he skated over to his position on the midline. He could hear his parents cheering in the distance, and Carlos yelling a "You can do it, Jamie!" from the sidelines. He felt Kendall's hand slap his back lightly in reassurance as he skated past him to his position and Logan's young and lopsided smile from behind his helmet at his position to James' right. He remembered the feeling bubbling up in his stomach, the crowd dying out as the puck rose into the air, and his sweaty hands gripping the hockey stick as he took in a sharp breath.

The rest was history, and that feeling hadn't shown up again until his moment on stage, auditioning for Gustavo Rocque, their future producer with quite a few anger management issues. He remembered the harsh stage lights glaring at him from above and the flutter of his heart as his stomach filled up with what felt like liquid magma, and he couldn't help but flashback to the first time it happened. Just like before, Kendall was there, guiding him through the audition door towards the stage, and Logan and Carlos' smiles, assuring him that he would be fine. He could remember feeling each and every nerve in his body, because they all felt like they were sparkling, and this was it, this was what he was ready for. Even though it hadn't gone as planned, it had happened, and everything had fallen into place. Since then, the feeling hadn't shown up again.

Well, until today.

James had been getting dressed for the evening until he realized with a start that he had nothing good enough to wear that would impress Valerie. He didn't know why, but he had this irrepressible urge to impress her, to surpass her incredibly high expectations. Getting over that wall was tough, but he was pretty close. Bridget, Sophia, and Abby had helped greatly- which is exactly why he was on the phone with the girls for the umpteenth time that day, panicking all over again.

"James? What kind of situation?"

Bridget's voice floated through the phone that James had clutched tightly in his hand. He had his black slacks on (not many options in the lower half department for a boy at a proper rehearsal wedding) and no shirt – despite having tried on everything that he had packed.

"I need something to wear, I- I know this shouldn't be a big deal but I can't figure out what color to go with, everything looks great on me, I mean duh, I'm James Diamond, but nothing looks good enough, what is Val's favorite color? Do you know what she's wear-"

"James."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up. We'll be right over."

The line went dead, but James didn't let go of the phone. Instead, he distracted himself by humming a tune to one of their newest songs, for which he had momentarily forgotten the lyrics to. He had pretty much forgotten everything at the moment. His mind was fuzzy and blown over and he couldn't think straight, so he settled for "la-la-ing" the melody to the song, which had something to do with having the time of your life for a night with your girlfriend and all your friends.

Yeah, that song was _definitely _applicable here.

A mere thirty seconds later, there was a sharp knock. James moved his jelly-like legs to the door, not even aware of what he was doing until he had done it. Swinging the white wooden door open, he was greeted by the sight of three girls, armed with various dress shirts, ties, and several bottles of hair product and cologne.

James breathed a sigh of relief and ushered them in. He had noticed the various colorful bottles of hair product and cologne in Abby's hands, and was pretty sure his hair was looking _perfect _as always and he smelled _amazing_ because he was James Diamond, for crying out loud, but he didn't say anything. Right now, he could use all the help he could get.

And that seemed to be the general thought of all the people in the room. Bridget and Abby just stared in shock at James' panic and sloppiness, two personas that didn't suit him too well. Sophia took in his disheveled and frazzled appearance before nodding in fake disappointment.

"We have a lot of work to do."

* * *

><p>"Carlos, if you trip me again, I swear-"<p>

"Aww, is Logie a baby? What are you going to do about it, huh? Afraid you'll fall again and break- _oooh_."

Logan snickered at his friend, whom had just gotten a sharp elbow to the gut for his childlike behavior. They had donned their dress shirts and slacks before making their way to James' room, where a jittery James had emerged in a starch white dress shirt and pressed black slacks, complete with a deep maroon red tie that hung loosely around his neck. The three boys had ventured on to Kendall's room after that, so that they could finally board the limo and go the rehearsal dinner. Finally, they reached the door and Logan knocked rapidly. Kendall opened the door and flashed his friends a nervous grin.

"How do I look?" He asked, gesturing to his navy blue dress shirt, black tie, and black slacks.

James whistled in approval, and Logan smiled back proudly at his best friend, and Carlos exclaimed a loud, "Dude!"

Kendall chuckled at his best friends' reactions, before dropping his smile and looked at them with a glare.

"No, seriously."

James laughed and Carlos slapped Kendall's back lightly in assurance.

"You look great, Kendall."

Carlos soon turned the gesture into a massive bear hug, which prompted Logan and James to join in, laughing at the familiarity of their actions. Their huddles were normal when they were 6 and armed with their hockey masks and padding, but now, their tall, built frames made it a little harder to wrap their arms around each other. Still, they enjoyed the familiar feeling of brotherhood, and since they hadn't done one of their infamous bear hugs in forever, they kept laughing hysterically. They finally broke apart a few minutes later, and Carlos wiped away a fake tear.

"We should get down to the limo." Kendall chuckled, humor laced in his tone as he grinned and slid his arms around James' and Logan's shoulders, Carlos bouncing around right next to them as they made their way down the staircase.

The front of the estate was, once again, lined with taxis and a few limos for all of the guests. With the exception of the parents of the bride and groom, everyone was about to head to the venue where the rehearsal dinner was taking place. Most of the guests were currently boarding their own taxis, and as they were clearing out, the boys walked outside. Still laughing from Carlos' rambunctious behavior, they were all smiles and giggles as they approached their own limo, specifically marked "Wedding Party." There was the sound of light chatter around the other side of the limo, and the boys glanced at each other curiously before walking around the corner. They were greeted by the sight of the four girls plus Katie, who were all dolled up in their own pretty dresses.

Bridget's smile sparkled as her eyes landed on her fiancé, and they immediately embraced, Kendall murmuring compliments into her ear. Sophia smirked at Carlos' wolf howls to the girls, and Katie shot him a threatening glare that cut him off with a cough. Abby smiled shyly while adjusting the bottom of her dress, and Logan exchanged a few pleasant comments with her before greeting the other girls.

James hadn't moved from his spot at the front of the limo.

Now that he thought about it, looking back at the butterflies that had occupied his stomach during his first hockey game and his first stepping stone towards his dreams, he decided that there was probably some sort of reason that he got them. Looking at Val right now, he realized that it was _her. _She was causing this feeling, and he didn't know why. She had nothing to do with his first love (hockey) or his dream (singing). In fact, if anything, she was the complete opposite- like an icy blast of reality, kicking him around in the worst ways possible, causing serious damage to his already screwed up head.

At first, he thought it was just because he was jumping into something different and exciting, like his first hockey game. The very rush of doing something new and electrifying and daring was a very plausible reason for his nerves that day several years ago, and it very well could also be signifying his enthusiasm for jumping into a new and exciting committed relationship.

Yeah, no. That wasn't it.

He then briefly considered the idea that they could possibly be nerves- but no, that wasn't it, either. He was _James Diamond. James Diamond _didn't get nervous. Nerves had no affect on him, because he was better than that. If it wasn't excitement and it wasn't nerves... what could this feeling be?

Wait, what?

_Oh-_

It hit him like a ton of bricks.

Actually, that was just Katie.

"-talking to you! Are you actually stupid? No, I'm serious. Do you know how to speak, James?" Katie was glaring up at him and smacking his arm repeatedly. James cleared his throat and glanced around. With the exception of Val, whose eyes were cast downward avoiding his gaze, everyone stared at him curiously.

"I- sorry."

The girls nodded at him, smiling, and the group resumed their light conversation, which James kept zoning in and out of.

"…wonderful. All of you do," Bridget was saying, looking fondly at the three other boys she knew so well.

"Aw, shucks! Nah." Carlos blushed, waving her compliment away with his hand.

Logan grinned at Bridget, adjusting his gray tie.

"I know I do." He joked, eliciting laughter from the girls.

James attempted a smile, but it came out looking forced and choppy. Eventually, he just cleared his throat and tried to compliment Bridget back, but nothing came out.

James and Val hadn't said a word to anyone, let alone each other, since the group had gathered. Although everyone noticed this, no one had said anything. As soon as the casual banter had slowed down and ended with an echo of a few chuckles, an awkward silence had settled with the group.

Everyone looked slightly uncomfortable with the silence, and the girls and guys had subconsciously moved away from each other, creating an unspoken, invisible line between them. Katie, of course, was directly in the middle of this line, and she didn't see what she could have done to help the situation, so she sat back and watched the inevitable train wreck happen in front of her.

Logan kept trying to make eye contact with Val, who had completely shut down upon the boy's arrival and refused to look up to meet anyone's eye. Carlos and Kendall both kept looking at the girls, who were all squinting suspiciously at the boys, as if silently challenging them. Abby glanced fiercely at James, trying to get his attention and remind him telepathically to stick to the tips that they had gone over all afternoon. James had his eyes glued onto Val, who still hadn't looked up from her position. And Katie was glancing back and forth rapidly between James and Valerie, trying to decipher the whole situation.

The silent staring (and not staring) competition went on for about three minutes, before Katie got fed up.

"Alright, we're obviously not getting anywhere. No one is on the same page here. I mean it. No one. Let's just get in the limo."

Everyone turned to Katie in bewilderment, who had busied herself with brushing down her dress and pushing past the boys to the door of the limo, where she climbed in quickly.

Awkwardly looking back at each other one last time, everyone followed suit and settled into the expansive limo.

The girls lined one side and the boys lined the other, making Val and James across from one another and they met up in the middle with Bridget and Kendall, who had smiled at each other to relieve some awkwardness. Katie sat in between Sophia and Val, who had become extremely tense.

Sensing this, Katie sighed and leaned over to Val to tap her hand assuringly. Val accepted her hand and offered a nervous smile, but didn't say much else.

The girls and guys all sat in awkward silence as the driver began to head for the venue, and no one bothered to say a word, instead occupying themselves with their silent staring competitions. Besides the occasional cough from Carlos, who was growing restless with the deafening quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were the busy streets and the wheels screeching underneath them.

The driver even noticed this and got a bit worried, finding the group strangely quiet, and decided to turn on the radio to help relief the awkwardness. Unfortunately, a 90's love song station was playing, which didn't help much with the situation at hand.

The silent drive finally ended twenty minutes later, and the limo had barely made a complete stop outside the venue before Carlos practically jumped out of the limo and ran towards the doors. The boys followed quickly, with the girls behind them. Katie was the last one to crawl out, before the driver, who had by now made his way to the door to hold it open, spoke up.

"That was one awkward car ride, huh?"

She nodded at him, sighing heavily, before looking back at the doors that loomed in front of her.

"And now _this_ should be even _more _fun."

* * *

><p>"I remember when we first met Bridget. She had been interning for this filmmaker who was working with us at a music video shoot, and we were exhausted from our flight earlier that day. We asked the assistant to get us some coffee, and boy, was <em>that<em> a mistake…" Logan chuckled from his standing position, looking over at a smiling Bridget from across the head table. The crowd chuckled at his joke, all sending humored smiles to the bride's direction.

"Anyway, our assistant sent Bridget to go pick some up from around the block. She came back with a tray of our coffee, and Kendall was rounding the corner to head towards the bathrooms, and...let's just say that Bridget isn't exactly…well, she's not the most graceful person, and I think most of us can agree on that."

Laughter erupted from all corners of the room, the loudest coming from Bridget's three maids of honor who were situated at the head table along with the bride and groom. They knew of her clumsiness since they were very young, and everyone who met Bridget was guaranteed to find out that she was accident prone within the first thirty seconds of meeting her. Bridget pretended to look insulted, protesting, "Hey!", but she couldn't seem to keep the smile off her face as Kendall laughed along with her, rubbing her arm in comfort. Everyone's laughter eventually died down and the attention returned to Logan.

"The coffee left a nasty stain, but it was well worth it. Kendall found his soul mate…and Carlos, James, and I found a new friend to annoy relentlessly." He grinned once again, and Carlos and James high fived from their spots at the head table. Logan nodded to Bridget and Kendall a final time.

"To Bridget and Kendall. May you two always be this happy."

He raised his glass in their direction, and everyone in the dining hall followed suit, with a loud, "To Bridget and Kendall!"

Bridget blushed and Kendall leaned over to kiss her cheek fondly. A collective 'aww' was heard from the several women whom had noticed it, and chatter started up again, all regarding the lovebirds' gestures.

James cleared his throat and rose out of his seat, smiling effortlessly, with his crystal glass of champagne held loosely in his hand.

"Alright, alright, before we get all mushy, it's my turn. So," he began, grinning evilly in Kendall's direction. Kendall noticed this and sent him a warning glare, but didn't move from his position seated next to his fiancé, with his arm wrapped around her waist protectively.

"When Kendall first told me that he was thinking about proposing to Bridget…well, I thought he had pretty much gone insane." The crowd chuckled, nodding at the expected reaction of James.

"I thought, who would ever want to go through that, you know? Marriage and love were foreign concepts to me… none of us had ever gone through that kind of stuff. I was just trying to look out for Kendall. But he didn't listen to me, and he went and proposed to her, even though I insisted that it was the wrong thing to do. It's taken me a while, but- I think I finally see it."

James suddenly stopped, and looked down at his shoes, as if he was embarrassed. Glancing up nervously, he caught sight of Carlos' wide, encouraging grin, and Kendall's glare softened into understanding. Logan offered him a thumbs up, and James felt the feeling bubbling to the surface once again.

He finally looked straight at the one person he wanted to tell it all to.

"Love is real. And it took me forever to realize that it exists, and it's not just some fabricated running gag that seems to consume everyone's minds. It's…a feeling," he swallowed roughly, clearing his throat once again, "…a real feeling that you can see in a person's eyes. No matter how much you want to deny it, it's there." He spoke to everyone in the room, but his eyes bore straight into Val's soul, who had frozen in her seat completely.

James seemed to realize that he had stopped talking, and all the focus was being drawn towards him and Val, so he let out a smooth laugh and slipped on a smile, turning back to Kendall and Bridget.

"It's a good thing Kendall's smart enough to know he should never listen to me. I'm glad he ignored my advice, because today, I think he's the happiest guy in the whole world, and that never would have happened if it wasn't for Bridget."

Bridget grinned at James, and he decided to lighten all the swirling emotion in the room with some humor.

"No, seriously, Bridge…he is now the mushiest, silliest and most romantic sap I know. Thanks a lot, for that."

The crowd laughed and clapped, while Kendall just squinted at James with a smirk, muttering, "Very funny."

James smiled and glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Val's for a fleeting moment. She looked furious, and he had no idea why. She couldn't seem to keep her legs and hands still, and she kept shaking her legs and tapping her fingers against her thighs, looking anywhere but up at James. He brushed this off, returning his attention to the happy couple and raising his glass.

"To Bridget and Kendall!"

"To Bridget and Kendall!" was the echo in response, and everyone took a quick sip of their champagne.

James sat back down and resisted the urge to look over at Val from across the table. He kept his focus glued onto Carlos, who began to tell the crowd about a carnival he had gone to when he was younger that was Zombie-themed. James didn't know how his speech had anything to do with Bridget's and Kendall's wedding, but he didn't care; he was barely listening. James nodded along absentmindedly, but his thoughts kept wandering off to a certain someone.

Had he said too much during his speech? What did this mean? Did this mean he thought she was in love with him, or was he subconsciously admitting something himself?

James didn't even have himself figured out. How could he even try to figure out Val, the most complicated girl in the whole wide world?

Carlos eventually finished, and his story must have made some sense, because the guests burst into laughter and applause as he bowed and sat back down. Random chatter filled the room. James' table, the head table, was occupied with conversation between the parents and a heated but silent argument between Sophia and Abby, who both kept glancing over at James with a worried expression.

Val still hadn't looked at him.

The chef pushed through the swinging kitchen doors, followed by several fancy-dressed waiters carrying large dishes. The food began to pile out and people began to unfold their napkins to pull out their silverware. James suddenly saw a flash of red in his peripheral vision, and upon instinct, he threw down his napkin and excused himself in a hurry, following the blur of red as he raced out of the dining hall. He doesn't know why, but he felt almost a magnetic pull towards Val, and he followed her to the secluded hallway that led to the bathrooms without hesitation.

She seemed to sense his presence behind her, and barely had made it to the hallway before whipping around and running straight into his chest.

"Woah," he breathed, grabbing her shoulders and steadying her, trying to catch her eyes with his.

She scowled up at him and brushed off his hands harshly, jabbing a finger into his chest with each venomous word that she said.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She hissed.

James' jaw dropped.

"M- me? Are you _serious?"_ He asked incredulously, shaking his head. She was unbelievable. They hadn't seen each other all day. What could she have possibly done to him?

"That…that little speech, in there? Yeah. I thought we agreed to keep it low profile."

"We…oh."

James flashed back to the compromised agreement that they had come to on the beach just moments after their kiss. Had it really only been less than twenty four hours ago?

His emotions had been on an endless roller coaster since then, making it seem like the dare had been a long, long time ago. He barely could remember anything that had happened today. The practice flirt sessions with Katie had been awkward and never-ending (and now, with Val standing before him in a tight fitting dress and looking as attractive as him, if not better, everything he had learned had been pretty much forgotten), and the tedious inner conflict he was battling with made each passing minute seem like agonizing torture that never ceased.

Jeez, this girl was killing him.

"Yeah, remember now?" Val whispered through clenched teeth before she continued, waving her arms around in frantic, angry motions.

"What you said was _stupid_, okay? You and I both know that you- we- don't know what love is, and the speech was cute and all, but you need to stop making things up for my benefit-"

"Who said I was making things up?"

James regretted what he had said the moment his mouth had opened, but he couldn't control himself. He hadn't mean to let that slip- he knew that she would probably take it the wrong way and get even more angry, but he couldn't help wonder why he had said it. Sure, he said things he didn't even mean over half the time, and he never thought about his actions until after the consequences would hit him like a slap of reality. But…did he mean what he said?

Did he really believe in love now, after twenty four measly hours with a girl who made his skin crawl?

Val froze at James' words, the fury in her eyes dying down and being replaced with a mix of fear and curiosity.

"You- what?"

James opened his mouth to make a lame attempt at taking back what he said, but she recovered quickly, and spoke before he could get any words out.

"Love, James? Love? _You?_ Do you even know yourself?" her eyes had taken on an evil glint, and she let out a bitter laugh at the ridiculous idea.

"No, I guess I don't. Things are…changing, I guess." He shrugged, once again regretting his impromptu words, but making no move to take them back or avoid the truth.

Val's smile dropped, and she furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding why James was suddenly being so honest. Was he _trying _to lose?

Val shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and James smirked at the gesture.

This could be fun, the whole honesty thing. Val obviously loves the game, and him giving in so easily wouldn't be too fun for her. Watching her squirm with James' honesty could very well be the final step that got her to crack before he did.

No harm in trying, right?

She glared up at him again, confusion all gone, and her expression replaced with competitive anger.

"This is a _silent _competition, okay? You're going to stir up trouble. We need to keep this quiet, you can't be shouting out stupid things about _love _all over the pl-"

James cut her off with his lips.

Right now, he couldn't remember how he had made it twenty four hours without any contact from Val. As soon his lips pressed against hers, his brain switched off, and every nerve in his body turned on full power, making him feel like he was ablaze. He could practically see the adrenaline rushing past his closed eyelids and running through his blood.

And there it was.

The feeling, coursing through his veins and swallowing every last ounce of dignity he had.

Val had him right where she wanted him, and he couldn't bring himself to care.

She felt too good to believe it was true; her body had melted into his on instinct, and every curve of her figure was pressed up against his stance.

James could feel himself getting more heated, and the fact that Val kept moaning longingly into his mouth wasn't helping much with the situation. His hands had found their way to her waist, and they rubbed up and down her hips repeatedly. Val's fingers lost themselves in James' hair and the back of his neck, and it took every ounce of his self control to not thrust his hips into hers.

He couldn't hear anything else around him, and he wasn't sure how long they had been doing…that, but he eventually mustered up enough willpower (scratch that. He would _never _have enough willpower, especially where Val was concerned) to pull back hesitantly.

The loss of contact seemed to snap something with Val, and she pulled back quickly to look into James' eyes with an intense gaze.

He stared straight back.

What would have been a staring competition had turned into something more for them, something more complex and twisted, but they kept doing it. Val's eyes darted back and forth, as if she was searching for something.

James felt the feeling rise to the surface, and-

She was gone.

Val had brushed past him quickly, making him stumble slightly with surprise. His eyes trailed after her as she smoothed down her ruffled dress and adjusted her hair, walking quickly back to the dining hall.

James watched her until she disappeared around the corner, before groaning in frustration and sliding down against the wall until he hit the floor. Pulling at his hair, he sat there for the half of the dinner, trying to figure out what was happening to him.

What was it?

Oh, right.

_The feeling._

That's what it was.

The feeling was a _feeling, _an emotion.

James Diamond had never felt an emotion before…

Until now.

Until Val.

"Yup. We've definitely got a situation."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ahhh, how was it? Loved it? Hated it? Let me know!**

**Thumbs up for cheesy chapter ending? :)**

**Oh, and I've been looking for some good stories to read lately. I haven't read a really, really good fanfic in a while, so if you have any recommendations, feel free to send me a link, or tell me about some of your own :) I'll read anything and everything!**

**Thanks for reading, everyone! :) :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: WOAH! Chapter 8? That's crazy! I never thought I would be getting this far with this little idea. It's hard to believe it sprouted from a dream; no dream is this crazy and complicated, huh? ;)**

**Well anyway, this chapter was really fun to write. It starts off really light and happy, but it gets more angsty as it goes on. This is mostly a comedic, fun story, but I hope you guys like what I threw into the mix. It's going to be moving really fast now, too! Not much longer until the end.**

**MAJOR SHOUT OUT!I would like to dedicate this chapter to a reviewer of mine, who is not only the sweetest thing since lollipops, but she is such a dedicated reviewer, it makes me want to break out into song for her every single time I read something she writes me. Pucoan is such a wonderful, terrific person, and she always leaves me the sweetest reviews and constructive criticism which really, really helps me out. So this chapter is for you! Thanks for being so fantastic :)**

**On with the story!**

* * *

><p>"Alert! Alert! Target spotted. Exiting the bathroom. No sight of the enemy in my line of vision."<p>

Carlos spoke into his cell phone eagerly, which was currently doubling as a walkie talkie, as he crouched down behind a potted plant along the side of the dance floor.

"Copy that, Super Carlos. Target spotted from my angle. Returning to table. Over." Kendall's voice floated through the three way call that was currently going on between himself, Carlos, and Logan.

"Is this really necessary?" Katie stage-whispered to Carlos, kneeling down beside him and gesturing to the cell phone in his hand to imply that the dramatic approach to their plan was pretty ridiculous to her. As soon as the dinner had finished and the band had begun to play, the boys held a quick meeting in the corner and decided to make Plan Make-James-Fall-In-Love-With-Val-In-Less-Than-Forty-Eight-Hours a little more interesting to play out.

Or, in Katie's point of view, a little more complicated, which is exactly what this inevitable train wreck _didn't_ need.

"Of course it's necessary, Katie! Without walkie talkies, how are we supposed to communicate? Now, shhh!"

Katie rolled her eyes and muttered something about how boys were stupid, before she walked back onto the dance floor, resuming her casual banter with some relatives.

Carlos popped his head up above the top of the plant and grinned at Kendall, who was still positioned at the head table with Bridget. Kendall winked back at Carlos, subtly hiding the phone in his hand under the table and turning his head away from his fiancé to speak into it quietly without her noticing.

"I'm in critical condition. I repeat, The Big Man is in critical condition. We need to move along. Bald Eagle?" He covered it up with a cough, but luckily, Bridget was too busy talking to Kendall's mother to notice his secret conversation that was taking place. He looked back at Carlos with a meaningful expression.

Carlos crouched back down, and listened to Logan speaking into his phone from his post at the other end of the room, near the doors.

"Affirmative," Logan whispered, his eyes following Val back to the table where Kendall and Bridget were seated. "Target has returned to her seat. Commence Stage 2."

Logan nodded to Kendall, who made eye contact with his best friend before clearing his throat and turning to Bridget with bright, shiny eyes.

"Bridge…" he drew out longingly, taking her hands and smiling his childish, endearing smile. She looked back at him, amused.

"What, sweetie?"

"Dance with me." Kendall said promptly, and deciding to not wait for an answer, pulled her up with him and led her to the dance floor, despite her protests and the giggles of a few of the bridesmaids.

Along the way to the dance floor, Kendall tucked the still engaged cell phone into his pocket and winked at a concealed Carlos, which went unnoticed by Bridget. They began to dance lightly to the upbeat music, swinging around and laughing together.

Carlos nodded at Logan, before speaking into his phone, much quieter this time, due to the close presence of the wedding couple.

"Super Carlos to Bald Eagle. Stage 2 is a go. Commerence Stage 3."

Logan rolled his eyes before replying, making his way from the entrance towards the head table, where Sophia, Abby, and Val were seated.

"It's _commence, _genius."

"Oh, whatever. You-"

Carlos stopped short when he saw James quietly slip through the front doors, where Logan had been standing just a few moments ago. He looked frazzled and lost, two personas that didn't suit him well. James' eyes darted around the party, landing on a retreating Logan momentarily before sweeping over to the head table to land on Val.

The boys had observed James come back to the dinner table while the food was being served, shortly after a flustered Valerie had seated herself down and began to shove food into her mouth, avoiding everyone's questioning gazes. James had kept trying to make eye contact with her, but was unsuccessful, and it was clear that something had gone on between them. As soon as the band started up, James had thrown down his napkin and muttered something about needing fresh air, making a quick escape out the front door, and hadn't returned until now.

The boys had then gathered and formulated a plan – a very extreme and dangerous plan, that went to the theme of Mission: Impossible – in order to get Val alone so that they could talk to her and find out what had happened with James. They were planning to distract the girls and keep James out of the way as well, so that Val would feel better about telling the boys everything openly, but James coming in through the door at the worst possible timing certainly changed things.

"Crap, crap, uh, enemy spotted, I repeat, enemy spotted! Abort Stage 3! Abort Stage 3!" Carlos rambled, desperately trying to make eye contact with Logan, who was still muttering incoherent thoughts about Carlos' vocabulary while making his way to Abby for their next step.

"What? What do you m-" Logan turned around abruptly and spotted James in the corner. Logan's eyes widened, and he began to panic. Slowly, he changed his route and inched towards the dance floor instead, awkwardly bumping into tables along the way.

"Okay, alternate Stage 2 ½." Carlos spoke confidently, eyeing James from his position behind the plant.

"What? That wasn't part of the plan!" Logan hissed into his phone, receiving curious looks from a few families nearby. Logan smiled at them apologetically before returning his gaze to James, who was still watching Val with a solemn expression on his face.

Carlos rolled his eyes.

"Don't be a baby, Logan. Just go up to James, talk to him, or something. Get him outta here!"

"Wh…But, I- fine." Logan groaned, narrowing his eyes in the direction of where Carlos was hiding. "Well, what are you going to do? We still have Stage 2 to carry out, you know."

"Right," Carlos furrowed his eyebrows and bit his lip in thought, before an idea struck him. He beamed in accomplishment, sticking his head out over the plant to see Logan at a better angle. "I got this. Don't you worry, Logie. Super Carlos out!"

Logan merely groaned at Carlos' mischievous grin, before turning around and striding towards an oblivious James.

"Uh…hey, man." Logan approached him awkwardly, giving a short wave in order to capture the boy's attention. James' eyes suddenly snapped to Logan and widened in recognition, before he let out a dry laugh and slipped on an effortless smile.

"Hey, Logan. Enjoying the party?" James kept smiling, but his eyes seemed to drift back to the head table too often to be considered casual.

"Yeah, I was just about to head onto the dance floor and try my luck at swing dancing," Logan joked, gesturing over his shoulder to the wide, open platform in front of the stage, where the band was playing enthusiastically. James scoffed good-naturedly at Logan, knowing that Logan's dance expertise only went as far as the choreographed instructions at the studio.

"Right. Can't wait to see that, Mr. Walking Disaster," James chuckled, reaching over to tousle Logan's hair affectionately, hoping to engage in a riveting conversation with Logan about anything just so he would have a distraction.

However, Logan chose this time to be the _one time _that he didn't begin on one of his scientific rants. Instead, he took a different approach, and decided to call James out on the spot, right then and there.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be talking, James. What's with you? You hardly ate, you look like a wreck-" James let out a girly shriek at this, his hands instantly moving to his hair, before Logan clarified, "-I mean, I can see it in your eyes that you're a wreck. Your hair is fine…but you're hardly speaking to anyone, you've spent the majority of the night outside by yourself, and you keep looking over at Val. You're like a walking zombie. Is something wrong?"

James didn't say a word, but he didn't need to, because Logan had apparently acknowledged every thought that needed to be spoken. He had called James out on everything, one after one, and now James couldn't deny it, because it must have been too obvious.

"I…I went outside to get fresh air," James stated weakly, barely convincing himself. Logan waited for James to continue to justify his actions with his warped reasoning, but James didn't say anything else. Sighing, Logan wrapped a comforting arm around his best friend's broad shoulder and began to ask him to elaborate, before they were both distracted by a noise nearby.

A scream was heard, followed by a, "CARLOS!" which prompted the two boys to glance over at the head table. Abby stood up in her light blue dress, which was now soaked with champagne, along with most of her hair. Sophia was laughing uncontrollably at the sight, and even Val had cracked a smile, though she kept glancing at Carlos curiously.

"Oops." Carlos grinned sheepishly, feigning innocence by clasping his hands together at his back and rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet.

Abby merely rolled her eyes at Carlos, an amused smile deceiving her look of annoyance as she pointed at him with a daunting finger.

"You're going to pay for this, Car." He nodded fervently at her before she sighed, hiking her dress up from the bottom and trudging to the bathroom slowly, a hysterical Sophia trailing behind. Val stood up to go help her friend as well, but Carlos ushered her back down and took Abby's chair beside her. Flashing Logan a very obvious wink and thumbs up, he turned to Val and smiled.

Logan took his as his cue to leave.

"Uh, James, perhaps…fresh air is what we both need. Come on…" Logan pushed James out the doors despite his protests, slyly grabbing his phone and speaking into it quickly, without the taller brunette noticing.

"_That _was your big plan? Anyway, I've got the enemy. You're clear. Bald Eagle out." Logan slipped the cell phone back into his pocket and continued to steer the oblivious and distracted James out the door, leaving Val and Carlos to have each other's undivided attention.

Val smirked suspiciously at Carlos while playing with the hem of the tablecloth in her lap.

"What was that about?"

"What?" Carlos asked sweetly, his childlike naivety making it difficult for Val to call him out on his 'accident'.

"Don't pull that cute little kid stuff on me, Carlos. We both know you're not _that _clumsy to knock over three glasses of champagne and have them all spill on Abby. Come on. Tell me what's up."

Carlos sighed at Val's raised eyebrow, assuming that she wasn't going to let it slide.

"Alright, well…we – Kendall, Logan, and I- we just wanted to get you alone so we could ask you _what's wrong with you?"_

Val's eyes widened, amusement lacing her features at Carlos' outburst.

"What do you mean?"

Carlos sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment before reopening them and taking Val's hand in his own.

"I'm sorry, but…Val, what's going on? Tonight was supposed to be your night. You were going to get James to fall to his knees for you, he's almost there, but now you're chickening out and-"

"Why is this so important to you?" Val asked, her suspicious feelings rising once again and overtaking her features.

"I-it's not," Carlos protested with a straight face, "We just want you and him to be happy, is all." His voice had trailed off to a mumble, and Val couldn't shake off the nagging feeling in her gut that something was going on with the boys that they weren't telling her.

"Carlos…" She spoke slowly, trying to catch his eye, which was fluttering around to the dance floor and trying to avoid her gaze, "Is there something going on with you guys that I should know about?"

"Wh-no!" Carlos denied, a bit too quickly to be taken as an honest response. Val tilted her head with a look that said, "Really?", and Carlos simply huffed out a breath.

"Look, everything's fine. We're just looking out for James, okay? We want him to know what it's like to be in a committed relationship. We want him to be in love and to be happy, and that's the only reason why we care, alright? Please…you were doing so well today, and you were so excited…what happened?"

It was Val's turn to sigh, running a hand through her hair.

"I don't know…I don't. But you're right, I need to do this…I'm _going _to do this. I am…" A look of determination sprouted on her face, and Carlos grinned, patting her back encouragingly.

"Atta girl. Go get him!"

An urge of confidence overwhelmed Valerie as she stood up and straightened out her dress. Her momentary loss of faith in herself had taken quite a toll on the evening, but now she was ready. She was ready to fight James to the death…or rather, to the end of the weekend, but same difference, right?

She could do this. She could win. All she needed was to remind herself of the big picture; why she, out of all people, was doing this. She needed to focus on James, and beating him, and getting him to grovel to her feet. She needed to get him to fall for her, and hard.

She hoped it was easier than it sounded.

* * *

><p>"Carlos is such a goof." Abby giggled as she rubbed the large golden stain on her dress. The brunette had seated herself upon the gold-rimmed marble counter of the ladies' restroom and began scrubbing the stain off of the front of her dress. Sophia had eventually stopped laughing, subsiding into frequent chuckles as she wet paper towels and handed them to her friend.<p>

"Isn't he? And Logan's so sweet and sensible, it's hilarious watching the two of them talk. And Kendall's just the mushiest man I've ever met. It's adorable, really." Sophia went on, thinking of the three boys she had become increasingly fond of over the last twenty four hours.

"And James…" Sophia continued, smiled genuinely at the thought of the boy she had spent all day with. Abby nodded in agreement, as if understanding what she was implying.

"He's actually not a bad guy. In fact, if it was up to me, he and Val would be together already….for real, this time." Abby told Sophia, her eyes twinkling hopefully. Sophia giggled lightly and nodded, wetting another paper towel under the sink before handing it to Abby.

"Not to mention, he's absolutely gorgeous. I don't know how she doesn't see it…or rather, how she's practically immune to it," Sophia joked, leaning back against the counter and sighing.

Abby shook her head in fake disappointment, rubbing her fingers into the dress absentmindedly.

"That's our Val," she stated.

"She's almost there, you know. She's about to crack. You can tell. She just needs a little push, then _boom! _She's in love, we win, and I get to rub it into Carlos' face." Sophia smirked.

"But why isn't James doing anything? Have you seen the way he's been acting?" Abby looked up at her friend, who blew a strand of hair away from her face.

"No kidding. We just have to talk to him… I think I saw him with Logan somewhere. Come on, we'll find him. You distract Logan, and I'll smack some sense into the boy." Sophia grinned excitedly, rubbing her hands together in anticipation as she hopped off the counter.

Abby rolled her eyes and chuckled at her friend, and reluctantly followed her out the women's bathroom, still donning her not-so-fashionable champagne stain.

The music of the band was still in full swing, and most of the guests were on the dance floor enjoying themselves, including the wedding couple. Sophia glanced around before she spotted Carlos and Valerie in a heated discussion back at the table, oblivious to the two girls quietly sneaking past them to look around for James and Logan.

"Where could they have gone?" Abby spoke over the thrumming music, her eyes scanning the large room.

"I think I see them outside," Sophia tilted her head to the front entrance doors, where the long windows were showing blurry reflections of the two boys, a flash of white and a flash of gray.

Quickly slipping through the crowd, Abby and Sophia reached the door and pulled it open, revealing a frazzled looking James and a concerned Logan.

The door shut behind them, leaving the four in an awkward silence in the midst of the warm, night air.

"Oh, hey guys," Logan waved, a small smile gracing his features as he turned towards Abby and Sophia.

"Hey, um…Logan, can you help me get this stain out? I tried wiping at it with water, but it didn't seem to work too well…" Abby didn't have to say much more, as Logan's attention had shifted completely to her dress, and he became fascinated with the stain, his eyes widening in excitement.

"It's a good thing I always carry a pint size bottle of stain remover! You know, wiping doesn't work as much as _dabbing_. You see…" Logan trailed off, absentmindedly following Abby back through the doors into the dining hall. Sophia snickered in their direction before turning back to face James, her arms crossed and head tilted challengingly.

"So, wanna tell me what's up your-"

"Look, there's nothing wrong with me, okay?" James snapped, groaning loudly and pacing back and forth in the small garden entrance. "God- just- why does everybody keep assuming that? I'm _fine, _everything's _fine, _there's nothing to-because- I- _nghhh_!"

Frustration overtook him as he stopped pacing and buried his face into his hands helplessly. Sophia simply chuckled, moving over to his side and slinging an arm awkwardly over his tall, broad frame.

"Look, it's okay. I get it. But after everything we did today?" Sophia gestured behind her at the doors, implying the practice flirting that Katie and the girls forced him into.

"Come on, we know you can. You got this. You have to make her fall in love with you, James." James looked down at her with squinted eyes.

"Why do you care so much?"

"Uh, I, uh, don't. But we want her to be happy-you know her. She's never going to fall in love willingly. You give her no choice, James." Sophia grinned up at him encouragingly, trying to distract from his rising suspicion. Apparently it worked, because James sighed dramatically, blinking down at her.

"You really think I can?"

Sophia simply leaned into him, hugging his right side with a friendly pat.

"I know you can. Go get her, you!" She pushed him lightly towards the doors, which he hesitated at.

He knew he could do this. He knew he could break her. _James Diamond _wasn't just his name; it was his persona, his reputation, his _everything_ on the line here. And no girl, no matter how difficult she was, could take that away from him.

_Especially _not one that he had met barely a day ago.

Putting on his game face and rolling his shoulders, James mumbled a "you're James Diamond" to himself over and over before pushing the doors open confidently-

-only to run into an equally as confident Val, with an eager Carlos trailing behind her.

"Wh-oh," Val moaned, her hand immediately flying to her forehead as she stumbled back, nearly falling into Carlos. She had hit her head on the swinging door, and James' eyes widened in disbelief when he realized that it was his fault.

That's what he got for being James Diamond.

"Are you okay?" Carlos kept asking Val as he supported half her weight. She was squeezing her eyes shut and muttering unintelligible phrases. James looked back at Sophia desperately for help, who just chuckled and whispered to him.

"Smooth." Sophia brushed past him, still laughing, and pulled Val up on her own feet.

"You two are way too dramatic for your own good," she stated, eyeing James and Val with an amused glance, before tugging Carlos behind her by the wrist into the dining hall, despite his protests at "wanting to see what happens."

The door banged shut with a jolt, leaving James and Val alone outside, with no one to buffer the thick awkwardness that had settled between them in the warm, summer night air.

Neither of them wanted to speak first.

Val simply glared at him, still rubbing her tender forehead. She was all pumped up and ready to take James down with whatever strength and wit she had left, and he had gone straight ahead and knocked it all out of her with the damn door.

He didn't look all too confident, either. Instead, he stood a long distance from her, while he stared at the fading brick wall beside him, running his fingers over it as he tried to keep himself distracted. Val could tell he was thinking about what to say, but nothing came out.

A few minutes passed, and James had gone through several different emotions that had been openly on display on his readable face. Looking up, his eyes met hers automatically, and his mouth slipped open as if he was about to apologize. Deciding to take a different route, James began to walk towards Val at a determined pace, not slowing until he approached her in a few quick strides.

Leaning down slowly, his lips gently pressed against her forehead, and didn't move until he heard her breath hitch in surprise. He kissed her forehead softly before stepping back, grinning slyly down at her.

"Sorry." He whispered, slowly reaching to her side to tenderly grab her hand, his fingers running over the smooth skin as his other hand grazed her face to push aside a few loose strands.

"I – it's- uh."

Val was at a loss for words, but not for very long.

She knew exactly what he was doing.

"It's fine." She scowled at him, ripping her hand away from his loose grip and turning on her heel, making her way towards the doors. She had him figured out, and she knew exactly when he was playing up his charm for benefit- right now being one of those times.

She couldn't believe she had almost fallen for that. Val thought he wasn't going to try anything tonight, that _she _would come out victorious, and he would grovel on his knees for her.

But if he was ready to play the game, it was _so on._

"What- wait- Val, where are you going?" James' eyebrows knitted together in confusion, although it was pretty clear that Val was heading in the direction of the dining hall entrance.

Val stopped in her tracks and plastered a fake smile onto her face before spinning on her heels slowly to face him. Walking at a devastatingly slow pace, she strutted towards James, tilting her head in mockery.

"Why, James? You want me to stay?" She asked, stopping only when she was fully pressed up against his body. She smirked up at him, her eyes trying to hold onto his in the small space between their faces.

It was James' turn to back away.

It was getting too much; she was shooting at his weak spots, left and right. She had completely evaded his attempt at seducing her, and now she was returning the blast on full fire mode.

How did she do it? How did one girl figure him out so quickly, so well?

He felt like the infinite, subconscious walls that he had built around himself in the past few years after making it big with the band were indestructible; hell, he didn't even know they had been there, because no one had gotten close enough to set off an alarm.

Except Val, of course.

And here he was, the devil herself standing before him triumphantly, his vision swaying, and the red sirens in the back of his head screaming at him from every possible angle.

It was dizzying, really.

"What's wrong, Jamie?" Valerie snaked closer towards his retreating figure, grinning slyly and curling her fingernails around the back of his neck, pulling him gently to her eye level. She leaned into his right side to whisper enticingly into his ear with her cool, quick breath. "A little flustered?"

He laughed breathily, not entirely giving up just yet.

"I'm getting there." He smirked, pulling away slightly from her grip to readjust himself directly in front of her. He took both of her hands gently and brought her left wrist up to his soft lips. Kissing the spot right above her thrumming pulse sensually, his eyes locked with hers behind the curtain of his bangs. Val's breath hitched for the third time that night, and she resisted melting into his arms, but her attempts were futile. She immediately pressed back up against him, eyeing him with a mix of emotions swimming in her eyes – emotions that neither of them had seen nor felt in their entire lives.

"Hot and bothered, are you, Val?" James teased weakly, all drive and passion behind his taunting gone. She seemed to be in the same place, and she nodded slightly, her face nothing but serious, all signs of competition having left her the moment he pushed against her.

He kept staring straight at her, frozen in place with his hands gripping hers and his hips grinding into hers, slowly. Suddenly, the air outside didn't feel so fresh as it was intended to be, and he felt like he was suffocating- as if his airways had been tied off and he had been stuffed into a room with limited, burning air that he had to practically choke down. He couldn't hear anything past the blood and adrenaline pumping against his skull, and he couldn't see anything but the girl in front of him, the girl who was the reason of his existence in the last twenty four hours, the girl who was slowly tearing him apart from the inside in ways he had never known possible.

A few moments later, he couldn't remember where he was. All he could recognize, if at all, was the feeling of Valerie up against him, burning him with her touch, and his entire body felt like it was on fire, every inch being scorched and scorched until he couldn't decipher which inch of skin was his and which was Val's. Everything was melting together into a puddle of sand and moans and pretty pink lips which he couldn't seem to detach himself from. He was breathing in harshly, too harshly to be healthy, and the large gulps of salty air weren't helping to clear his head – but James decided that it was probably a good thing that he couldn't think, because then he'd be forced to acknowledge the facts and pay attention to the world, and honestly, he didn't want to. He just wanted to remain on his toes, on fire, and oblivious and lost in the magic that was currently consuming him, and he was walking a fine line at bursting his happy bubble by even thinking at all. There was the dim sound of crashing all around him, a steady rhythm that he was working with to his own advantage. He was breathing harder, faster, and low growls would escape him as he felt liquid heat pool up in his lower stomach. He saw flashes of shadows and smooth skin before he couldn't see anything else, his vision being swarmed by blinding bliss, pure _good, _and he didn't remember how he had gotten to this point, but it didn't matter anymore.

The feeling had officially taken over.

* * *

><p>There were a combination of things that woke Valerie up a few hours later, but they were certainly things that she wasn't completely expecting.<p>

For example, dying wasn't really on her to do list _oh so_ very early in the morning.

The harsh light of the sun streaming down on her made her slightly conscious. She refused to open her eyes, until common sense hit her like a brick, and she couldn't help but wonder why her room was _so warm_, and why her bed had suddenly transformed into a rough, bumpy, and hardly comfortable surface. Groaning in dissatisfaction, Val tried to turn to her side, to find that she was being held down at the waist by an iron bar or something. Still refusing to open her eyes, Val dismissed it as an oddly lifelike dream, and began to slip slowly back into slumber.

That is, until a crashing wave of high tide water engulfed her legs and practically dragged her to sea.

The strong pull of the high tide's waves moved a shrieking Val down a few inches, but the iron grip around her waist held her in place.

Valerie's eyes had flown open in shock, and she had to blink a few hundred times before believing that she was truly not in her bedroom. She was on a beach, but not just any beach.

She was on the same beach as Thursday night, in the same spot where she and James had made their infamous bet.

She moved to get up, to run back to the estate into the comforting arms of her friends and ask how she had gotten to the beach in the middle of the night, but when she tried to lift herself up, she was held down by the iron bar.

Or in this case, James' arm.

James was lying on his stomach in his boxers, tan back exposed to the morning sun. His eyes were closed and his head was turned to face Val, inclined downwards. His lips were parted slightly, a calm demeanor etched on his face as his arm was wrapped protectively around Val. Val's widened eyes moved hesitantly to her own body, dismayed to find herself only in her bra and underwear, her bra hook not even hooked behind her.

Suddenly, everything that had happened last night came back to her, and she let out a string of "oh my god's" before bringing her hands up to her temple and trying to soothe her sudden, throbbing headache. She could remember every gasp, every sensation, and worst of all, every _emotion_ that had encompassed her last night.

And one had hit her in particular, harder than the wave had.

* * *

><p><strong>How'd ya like it? Let me know! Thanks for reading, you guys! You're all terrific. You're better than PUPPIES. :)<strong>


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